In our last post we did show all of you a simple way as how to remove encrypted links from footer.php if the WordPress theme is having the encryption. Some theme designers have found a way to get the themes working by not only encrypting the footer.php but also adding few lines of code to few files as well.
Today we are going to show all of you how to get rid of those links in footer if you encounter them all one by one step.
Step 1 Install the theme on to your web server by uploading the theme either by FTP or WordPress upload feature, alternatively you can also use One Click Plugin Updater Plugin for WordPress so that you can upload plugins and themes from your WordPress Dashboard.
Step 2: Look into your theme, you can find the links to some of the sites which are not related to your website at all. Even though footer is not encrypted the theme is encrypted.
You have to look into two files for encryption.
- Header.php
- Functions.php
In your Header.php look for code something like the image below.
I have simplified the image if you cannot figure out what to delete or what to remove, I deleted the first coded lines. The header.php file should start with something like this image below
Step 3: Now as the header.php files has been changed , its time to check the functions.php file for any problems.
Checklist of things to do in functions.php file
- Functions.php contains few lines of code which makes your theme link to irregular sites.
- You should find out check_header(); function in functions.php, if it is mentioned in the functions.php file it will check header.php file for the code if it does not find then your theme will not work.
Editing Functions.php file
You will have to remove the codes highlighted in pink only, without touching any other code. If your WordPress theme has encrypted footer with a link to unrelated site, then you must follow how to remove encrypted footer links in wordpress themes post. If you find out any problem with removal of the theme encrypted links, I can easily provide you with help on that matter.
I have done everything on my PC using NotePad++, and it can be done very easily and you can enjoy the full theme without any codes or external links to unrelated domains.
By usage of this method Your WordPress theme will be absolutely clean and you will not find any problems what so ever with encrypted links.
{Please Note : Though you can remove all the links using this method, it is our request that you link to the original designer of the theme.}
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
thx mate … at last it solved my problem
awesome work
I am following all the instructions here yet it is not working for me. I think designers are also getting smarter these days and they could be one step ahead of us.
By the way, I was tinkering with themes from [Theme Name Removed due to Privacy Reasons.]
Please help…
@TomBlogger,
Hey,
Sent you the theme without any codings. I hope you got the theme and are working on it.
It is quite easy to do what you want to do. Removing the codes is quite an easy stuff. Just look for “things” in right place.
Hi Ravi,
Have tried both sets of steps and been unsuccessful with the Name Removed. Any possibility you’ve tried it with that one?
Hi Ravi et al,
Sorry . . . upon further inspection, I noticed that even the “check_theme_header” function was encrypted. Works fine now. Thanks for the tremendous info about the fix. This has been a terrific learning process.
@Mark Johnson,
Mark, GPL Themes can be modified to use according to your blog size and design. The only thing which hurts is their links.
Since you know how to modify the encrypted wordpress themes now you can always tell other people about the same.
This will work until the theme designers think in any other direction.
It is a great post .
1)I saw some themes with Encrypted codes .They were mentioned as Linkwear by developer and has more than 5 links to a bank,a webhost etc .I think they are advertisements . The developer warned “WARNING: This file is protected by copyright law. To reverse engineer or decode this file is strictly prohibited.”
But they have not mentioned the license which they release the themes under and asking $40 for each theme to remove the links .Am I allowed to remove them as you said?
2)By the way some other theme developers don’t encrypt the theme and ask us not to remove the footer branding .How do I proceed with such themes?
3)And some other themes would be release under creative-Common-License.What do we do with them?
Thanks !
Hi,
I’ve tried to do what you say but now it shows me “This theme is sponsored, all links in the footer should remain intact”. How can I risolve this problem? I want to change footer credits. Help me please. Thanks a lot.
Thanks I’ve risolved. Thanks a lot for your guide
I don’t have encrypt code in the footer, header or functions files. I’ve tried several tutorials like this to remove the encryption with no luck. There is an extra file called decrypt.php with my these – maybe it has something to do with it?
When I edit the footer in numerous ways and methods nothing works. I’d like to keep the authors credits, but I wanted to set the footer up to my own liking. Please help !
There also appears to be some whacky mumbo jumbo in the theme_licence.php & start_template.php files.
In my case it working only with a index.php file, but i cant remove those links from other subpages.. :/
Can someone help me with it?
Great, thank you very much this done the job perfectly!
Hey! Thanks for the good work, But I didn’t get how does it work. Can I send you my Header.php and Functions.php and you edit them and send them back please? Thanks
It worked more than fine.
Thanks!
Thanks man! I was paniccing when I first saw that horrible message about not being able to remove links! I thought my blog was finished!
Here is a great tip if this happens – Just reload your footer.php file to your control panel and you lose nothing. The blog will work as normal.
But this tutorial worked perfectly for me..the first one didn’t so I guess I got a designer who is a bit more encryption savvy!
Also, I didn’t find the check_header in my functions file. I just found one “eval” code which I removed..I held my breath but it worked nicely
Thanks agaib
Hi…thanks for working on this. I’m a newbie to WP and working with themes but is seems crazy that people market these themes as FREE and then you can’t edit the silly links to thinks like drug rehab clinics. Uggh.
I am having issues with a theme by NewWpThemes.com, their iEducation theme looks cool and useful but I can’t have links at the bottom. when I tried your changes they seemed to work, but then some of the the Admin options got axed. Have you worked with these themes?
hello,
ty very much 4 this helpful guide it works fine for me at one template. unfortunately on the theme BlackTribe from this url http://zenverse.net/black-tribe-wordpress-theme/ it will not work. plz, can u tell me one or two hints to get it to run? big thx
and plz exuse my bad english … will hope its readable 4 u
My Functions.php is fully encrypted…any thoughts on how to beat that as well as the footer encryption?
My Thme is called Sky Theme 1.0 by Free Wordpress Themes
I don’t want to necessarily remove the link to the designer. I think they’ve done hard work and deserve to be linked to, BUT I’d like to take credit for customizing the theme and would like to add some code to the footer…that’s all.
Big thank you! I spent 12+ hours trying to figure out how to remove some nonsense from a theme I wanted to use and after coming across this, I had everything cleared out and working in 5 minutes. Appreciate it.
thank you x 1000 — I have been scouring the net for something (i had to delete my theme several times trying other suggestions –I was smart enough to save my codes before hand though so i didnt lose any work) and yours is the ONLY thing that was able to get rid of it!
Hi,
I am using daksteel wp theme and i am having issues. i send you the php file and edit it? thanks much
Hi,
Your site is very thorough and informative – I just wish my code looked anything like your examples! I have encoding in my functions.php but not my footer.php. My header.php starts right at <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC, like you said, but has <?php stuff several places throughout. I tried your first method, but wasn't sure where to put the copied code (the encoded bit in the functions.php is really nestled in the middle of a bunch of stuff I don't understand and it broke the entire site.) I uninstalled, reinstalled original files, but am still getting the error box. The update looks nothing like my code, either. I did a lot of work on the scheme, graphics, layout and colors – please help!
Thanks mate, you saved my day! It’s really strange why they keep it encrypted when it’s with Creative Commons…
Excelent, works for me, but the tag check header, i found it in the directory include under wp-general.php.
Many tacks.
I have a problem removing the footer links from the choice theme of magpress. Have tried what you have suggested here to no avail. Any further help?
I have removed all codes except I cannot locate “check_header”.
The footer is now usable, but the “admin bar” is now at the bottom of the page?
Anyone have any experience with that? Is that because I haven’t been able to find check_header? lol