Uninstall Unnecessary Extensions

Plugins/Mambots

Plugins can be very costly. Content plugins are processed on every content item displayed on any page, and system plugins are run on every page. Installing a caching component can really help speed up a site, but only for visitors who are not logged in. The best solution for costly plugins is to uninstall the ones that aren't critical. Make sure to delete them from the Install/Uninstall page of your backend, this will make sure that no extra files are left on your server. You cannot just disable a plugin because it will still given the chance to run on every content item, you must uninstall it completely.

Modules

Modules can also take up processing time, but aren't nearly as evil as plugins. Delete any modules you don't absolutely need (again, make sure to use the Install/Uninstall page to remove them and not directly from the Modules page). Also make sure to disable Mambots/Plugins from being run on any of the modules that allow it, in particular Joomla's standard "User" type.

Article by P.J. Swesey Open source software news and directory of open source software.

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Components

Most components only run when a site links directly to them, but some run on every page load. These can be as evil as the plugins, but some are necessary (Caching components, SEF components). Make sure you don't have any extra components on your site that you don't use or really don't need because they can contribute to your web site's slowness and help grind things to a halt.