404 GUARD GUIDE
Check the result carefully before assuming that protection has helped or made things slower.
If the test keeps running, returns no figures or reports an error, treat it as incomplete. A blank value doesn’t mean the website answered in zero milliseconds.
Take a screenshot and note the time, selected response type and protection mode. Avoid repeatedly starting more tests while one appears to be running.
Security tools, a hosting firewall or an external protection service may challenge or block a test request. A cache can also answer a request before it reaches the code you’re trying to measure.
Check the related security and hosting logs if you have access to them. Ask the host whether the test request reached the site. Don’t switch off all protection just to get a number; identify the relevant rule or behaviour first.
Check whether the response style changed between tests. A blank response and a complete branded page do different amounts of work and have different sizes.
Use comparable conditions and record any changes to caching, hosting or plugins. A site with little spare capacity can produce more variable results while other requests are running.
Switch to Monitor mode while you investigate. Check the chosen response type and any custom handling of missing pages. Look for more than one plugin trying to redirect or render the same 404 request.
Repeat the comparison only after you’ve identified a useful change to test. Check normal customer pages as well as the plugin’s figures, particularly forms and checkout.
Email [email protected] with the plugin version, WordPress and PHP versions if available, hosting provider, protection mode and response type.
Include screenshots or exported results, the time of the test, and the caching or security tools involved. Describe whether the test never finished, returned an error or produced a slower result. Those are different problems.
Send the exact address, your protection mode and what happened when you tested it.
