Disabling Joomla 2.5 plugins, components, modules via phpmyadmin

Sometimes a Joomla 2.5 web site may have errors due to the installation of a new component, plugin or module - and you may be stuck without being able to uninstall the offending plugin / component.

A typical example of this is when you get the error 'JLIB_APPLICATION_ERROR_COMPONENT_NOT_LOADING'  on all pages in Joomla front-end or backend.

 In situations like this, you may need to use PHPmyadmin to disable the offending plugin/component.

If you are uncertain of which plugin may have caused the issue and cannot log in to the administrator area, try disabling 3rd party components/plugins one by one this way:

For Joomla 2.5:

• log in to PHPmyadmin
• locate the table ending in '_extensions' (the first few digits/letters are randomly generated and vary by installation)
• locate the offending plugin / component or module and change its 'enabled' status from '1' to '0' and click save!