And, you would go maybe first to your admin Panel. I believed this was already good practice.
All Beginners Upgrade Guide:
- Go to your admin panel and login directly. Usually you can do this under any condition: /admincp/index.php.
- Close the forums
- Upload the files contained in the /upload/ folder to your forum home (all or just the ones which have changed), making sure they get replaced
- Upgrade the product with the xml file
- Open the forums
- Keep the admin panel open and do some testing
