Wouldn’t it be coll if you could just sit back and have coffee while your Wordpress upgrades itself automatically. Yup, thats what this plugin does. Upgrading has always been a pain to bloggers and it is one of the main reasons why they opt for remotely hosted solutions like Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. Wordpress Automatic Upgrade(WPAU) is a plugin that automatically upgrades your wordpress version to the latest files provided by wordpress.org using the 5 steps provided in the wordpress upgrade instructions.

WPAU does more than just update your blog. Here is a list of what it does :

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.

Kudos to the developers for making such a useful plugin. You can read more about it here on Techie Buzz.