What are potential causes of the "Maximum execution time exceeded" error in PHP scripts and how can it be addressed effectively?

The "Maximum execution time exceeded" error occurs when a PHP script takes longer to execute than the maximum allowed time set in the server configuration. This can happen due to inefficient code, large data processing, or infinite loops. To address this issue, you can increase the maximum execution time limit in your PHP configuration or optimize your code to improve its performance.

// Increase the maximum execution time limit to 60 seconds
ini_set('max_execution_time', 60);