If you've installed Joomla and logged on to the Administrator Panel and see an error message that ends with something like 'register_globals is On. For security reasons it should be set to off. ', have no fear.

I searched some of the forums to see how to solve the problem and found that there was a lot of confusion on the subject. A lot of erroneous solutions were offered to solve the security problem.

My own research:
You will get this error if you are using PHP 4. If your web host gives you the option of using PHP 4 or PHP 5, choose PHP 5 and you won't get the error.

If you are using PHP 4 and that is all that your web host offers, you need to access the php.ini file from your File Manager.

Our web host provides access to this file in a SYS folder.

The PHP.ini file included in each PHP 4 release recommends setting register_globals to off and then in the settings, sets it to on. (Go figure)

Scroll down to the line that reads register_globals=On and change it to register_globals=off and save the php.ini file.

Now open your Joomla administrator panel and the error message is gone.

If you've got a retarded web host that doesn't give you access to the file you may have to submit a trouble ticket and ask them to make the change for you.

NOTE:If you are using PHP to create your own home made scripts, changing this setting could render them useless. Be sure to check all of your forms and make sure they are still working after changing this setting!!

Comments (0)