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This documentation page does not apply to our software versions for Joomla! 4.0 and later versions. If you are not using Joomla 3 please consult the documentation index to find and read the correct version of the documentation.

Chapter 2. Using Admin Tools

Table of Contents

The Control Panel
The component Options
Fixing the permissions of files and directories
Configuring the permissions of files and directories
Emergency Off-Line Mode
Protect your administrator back-end with a password
The .htaccess maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
Custom .htaccess rules
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
The NginX configuration maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
The Kitchen Sink (Expert Settings)
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
The web.config maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
Web Application Firewall
Configure
Basic Features
Request Filtering
Hardening Options
Cloaking
Project Honeypot
Exceptions
Auto-ban
Logging & reporting
Customisation
Troubleshooting (I got locked out of my site)
WAF Exceptions
WAF Deny List
Administrator Exclusive Allow IP List
Site IP Disallow List
Anti-spam Bad Words
Blocked Requests Log
List of blocking reasons
Auto IP Blocking Administration
Auto IP Blocking History
Email templates
Database tools
The PHP File Scanner
How does it work and what should I know?
Configuration
Scanning and administering scans
Reading the reports
Automating the scans (CRON jobs)
Automating the scans (front-end scheduling URL)
SEO and Link Tools
URL Redirection
Cleaning your temporary files directory
Protecting Admin Tools with a password
Import and Exporting Settings
Access Control
The "System - Admin Tools" plugin
Rescue Mode
Troubleshooting guide
Administrator password protection issues
New Super Users are blocked and deactivated after login
Can not create or edit Managers, Administrators, Super Administrators using Admin Tools (403 error thrown)
Locked out of my site after applying a .htaccess using Admin Tools' .htaccess Maker
Admin Tools' Web Application Firewall (WAF) locked you out of your site
My components, modules or templates stopped working after using Admin Tools .htaccess Maker and how to determine and apply exceptions
I created a .htaccess file on my main site and I can't access my other domains on the same account
The administrator secret URL parameter is not working
There are too many security exceptions. Should I be worried?

The Control Panel

The main page of the component which gives you access to all of its functions is called the Control Panel.

The Control Panel page

The Control Panel is split in three areas, a top area, the left-hand control panel icons and the right-hand information boxes.

If there is an update available, you will see the information about it at the very top of the page. Click on the Update button to go to the Joomla! extensions update page where you can install the update.

In the left hand area you have icons which launch the individual tools out of which Admin Tools is made when clicked. Each of those tools is described in a section of its own in the rest of this documentation.

Clicking on the Scheduling (via plugin) button will launch the System - Admin Tools plugin configuration page in a pop-up dialog box. In there, you can configure the scheduling options for Admin Tools' utilities. Do note that this feature is only available in the Professional edition.

The topmost right hand information pane displays the Admin Tools version information. You can see the version of the software, as well as force-reload the update information for Admin Tools itself. The latter is only necessary if there was an update released in the last 24 hours and your copy of Admin Tools has not "seen" it yet.

Below that you will see the graphs showing the number of blocked requests logged (potential attacks Admin Tools Professional has protected you against), their distributions by type and a few statistics about them, e.g. how many requests were blocked in the last year, month, week, day and so on.