upgrading form 1.5 to 2.5 or 3.0

I am using the HotJoomla eCommerce with Joomla version 1.5.26.

I got a message form Google webmaster that says “Google recommends that you update to the latest version. Older versions of software or without patches may be vulnerable to hacking attacks or malware that may harm your users”

Do you recommend upgrading to Joomla 3.1.1 or Joomla 2.5.11 or should I stay with the current version that works fine?

If I stay with the current version and not upgrade is there another way to protect my website from hacking attacks or malware?

If I upgraded after all, I would prefer to have the Joomla 3.1.1 installed. When I log in to your website i see that there is only an e-commerce 1.5 and 2.5 version available. Will there be an ecommerce 3.1 version any time soon?

If you think I should upgrade after all, can I pay you to complete the whole process for me (upgrade joomla and e-commerce template without damaging my website). If not, can you recommend an individual or company that can take over this task?

(I don’t use the virtumart so this need not be updated. Modules that use are the HOT Joomla Gallery, the random image, the HOT Effects Rotator, some custom HTML modules and an ITPshare module which has an 3.0 extension)

I have read all the relevant questions in the forum and as a see in one of your responses “there's no easy way to upgrade Joomla 1.5 to 2.5 and VM 1.1 to 2.0. You should better make your site from scratch.” I don’t have the time or the programming knowledge to do this so I will definitely need some professional help.

Best regards,

Yes, j1.5 is open door ,abusers can easily inject arbitrary code. How ever it's not easy because there is not direct way of updating.I recently spent like 10 days updating site for one customer although perfectionist customer. There is component called jUpdate that will be ok if you don't use any special component. Extensions are not compatible so you need to replace all of them after. jUpdate will help you update to j2.5 and then if you want you can upgrade form joomla to 3.1 setting different update server. Also template wil need replacing but if you use our template you have 2.5 and 3.1 versions.

Thank you for the quick response.

Can I pay you to complete the whole process for me (upgrade joomla 3.1 and e-commerce template 3.1 without damaging my website). If not, can you recommend an individual or company that can take over this task?

Best regards,

You can't update to j2.5 because you have VM. Later when vm becomes stable for j3.1 you can easily update from 2.5 to 3.1 using automated process. Send me your contact email using "report to moderator" and site admin login info. I need to see what you have before I could give you quote.