Wordpress 2.5 Download in 3 Easy steps
I’ve just successfully upgraded this blog to Wordpress 2.5. It was easy and straightforward 
and I’m getting all the benefits of Wordpress 2.5 including a better control panel and greater security.
Do you want to know how to upgrade your blog? Afraid that you’ll end up losing all your work?
It doesn’t have to be that way if you upgrade step by step.
Read on for some simple instructions on how to upgrade your blog…
A few words about Wordpress blogs
If you’re not familiar with Wordpress blogs there’s a few things worth knowing:
Your blog is stored in 2 parts:
1. The database which contains all the posts and other information
2. The program files which run your blog
You shouldn’t have to do anything with the database unless you’re on a very old version of Wordpress so you just need to update the program files, which is what you get when you download Wordpress.
Unless you’re using the default installation of Wordpress (not recommended as it’s a real turn off), you will have added some new files to the program files to customize the look and feel. These files are all stored in the wp-content subdirectory inside your Wordpress installation and you don’t want to change these.
Any major change such as a Wordpress upgrade has a certain risk attached to it. You must backup your existing blog before you start. If you do a backup then you can always restore the old version if all else fails…
Armed with these pieces of information, you can get started:
Backup your old blog
You will need to backup both your blog program files (contained in the directory that’s the root of your Wordpress installation) and your blog database as the new version of wordpress will attempt to write to the database in your hosting account as part of the upgrade.
There are some excellent instructions on how to back up your blog on the Wordpress site.
Download Wordpress 2.5
You can get it as a zip file here
Download the program files either to your computer or to your host. If you know how to unzip files on your host it’s worth copying the zipped version to your host and unzipping there. Otherwise, unzip the dowloaded files on your computer ready for copying over to your host following the wordpress installation instructions
Install Wordpress 2.5
The best way to do this is to follow the installation guide provided by Wordpress.
One or two hints:
If, like me, you’ve got a simple installation you won’t need to touch the wp-content directory - leave it alone:-)
Remember the all important wp-config file - without it your blog won’t work. I accidentally deleted mine, luckily I had a backup:)
That’s all - enjoy Wordpress 2.5