brockangelo

This plugin schedules a daily event using wp_cron that deletes all comments marked “spam” in the database, then optimizes the comments table.
Brief reason why I made such a low-tech plugin:
Akismet catches all the spam, but when I was looking at the size of my backups one day, 
I noticed that there were large numbers of comment spam across several sites that were undeleted and they 
made the databases fairly large. So I setup a cron job on my server that deletes the spam.
Since I had never written a plugin, I thought this might be helpful for those who do not have 
a dedicated server, shell access to their site, or the knowledge of (or interest in ) cron to set this up.
Spam is not deleted until you start the schedule after the plugin is activated. I created buttons 
to start and stop the schedule if you need that layer of control. There is also a button for deleting all spam manually.

Delete Spam Daily

Uses wp_cron to delete comments each day that are marked "spam" in the database.

Jeff Starr

This plugin enables WP Cron on sites using HTTP Authentication.
How to use: Visit the plugin settings, enter your HTTP Auth credentials, save changes, and done.
Everything happens silently and automatically in the background.
<blockquote>
New! Supports defined constants via wp-config.php (<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-cron-http-auth/#installation" rel="ugc">learn more</a>)
</blockquote>
Privacy
This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way.
WP Cron HTTP Auth is developed and maintained by <a href="https://x.com/perishable" rel="nofollow ugc">Jeff Starr</a>, 15-year <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress developer</a> and <a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">book author</a>.
Support development
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can <a href="https://monzillamedia.com/donate.html" rel="nofollow ugc">make a donation</a> or purchase one of my books:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">The Tao of WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Digging into WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://htaccessbook.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">.htaccess made easy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/wordpress-themes-book/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Themes In Depth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/downloads/wizards-collection-sql-recipes-wordpress/" rel="nofollow ugc">Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress</a></li>
</ul>
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/bbq-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">BBQ Pro</a> – Blazing fast WordPress firewall</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/blackhole-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Blackhole Pro</a> – Automatically block bad bots</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/banhammer-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Banhammer Pro</a> – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/ga-google-analytics-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">GA Google Analytics Pro</a> – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/head-meta-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Head Meta Pro</a> – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/simple-ajax-chat-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Simple Ajax Chat Pro</a> – Unlimited chat rooms</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/usp-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">USP Pro</a> – Unlimited front-end forms</li>
</ul>
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂

WP Cron HTTP Auth

Needed it. Simply works. Awesomeness. :-)

Works like charm!

Exactly what was needed to solve the cron task problems we encountered once we put in place Require valid user restrictions into our .htaccess file.

Small plugin. Does exactly what it says on the tin. No spam. No ads. No nags.

Solved our Staging and Dev environment issues

Enables WP Cron on sites using HTTP Authentication.

Delete Spam Daily vs WP Cron HTTP Auth