So, how do we remove MooTools? Simply removing it from the media/system/js folder of your Joomla! install will not work properly – the system will still try to include the file, only now you have a bad HTTP request for every single page load. We need an airstrike that completely obliterates MooTools from showing up in your final HTML. Fortunately, this is easily achieved using a plugin.
In the file directory /plugins/system create a new file called “removemootools.php” and insert the following code (you will need to register the plugin in the database, too).
class plgSystemRemoveMooTools extends JPlugin
public function onAfterDispatch()
$app = JFactory::getApplication();
if($app->isSite()) //Only ever remove MooTools from the client-side, never the admin side
$mootools = JURI::root(true).DS.'media'.DS.'system'.DS.'js'.DS.'mootools.js';
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
Note: This only removes the core MooTools framework. There are numerous other files that Joomla! automatically loads that use MooTools but removing them is as simple as adding another unset() to the plugin you just made.
Once you open up your administration and enable the plugin you will notice that MooTools has disappeared from your entire site. So, how does the code behave? First, we check to make sure that we’re dealing with the client-side of Joomla!. The administration section of Joomla! is thoroughly laced with MooTools and removing it will pretty much disable your administrator panel.