Change Your WordPress Username

By default, when a new WordPress website is setup the username “admin” is used for the administrator.  However, “admin” is the first username used by hackers to try and gain access to your website.

To tighten up the security of your WordPress website, I highly recommend that your change the “admin” user to something different.

If you are using a “admin” user account for your site follow these simple instructions on how to change it.

1. Login to your WordPress admin area as normal.
2. Under the “Users” heading in your dashboard menu, click on “Add New”.
3. Type in the information for the new user you want to create.
4. Click on “Add User”.
   • Select a new username – select one that is not similar to the name you use publicly on your site.
   • You will need to use a different email address to the one used for the “admin” user.
   • Choose a strong, hard to guess password using uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers & symbols.
   • Ensure you select “Administrator” as the role.
5. Logout of WordPress.
6. Login to WordPress again using the new user details that you just created.
7. Go to “Users” in the “Users” menu in your dashboard menu.
8. Hover your mouse over the “admin” user in the list of users and click on the “delete” link that appears.
9. Make sure you select “Attribute all post and links to: (new user)” otherwise all your posts will be deleted.
10. Click on “Confirm Deletion” button.

You have just deleted the “admin” user and created a new user.  All blog posts will now be reassigned to the new user.