Martin Brinkmann

martin photo

Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News back in 2005. Martin started his career as a tech support representative at a large German financial corporation which he used to finance his college education in English, Information Technology and History.


He quit college and his job when Ghacks began to attract a large enough readership. He made the decision to become a full time blogger and webmaster, and has not looked back since.


Martin is interested in all things tech. His primary focus is on desktop operating systems, web browsers, Internet services, and privacy related topics.


He published the book The Complete Windows 10 Privacy Guide: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update version in 2017. Martin writes a weekly column for fellow tech site Betanews as well.


You can reach Martin on Facebook or on Twitter. Please use the contact form at the bottom of the page to contact the author directly.


Martin has been quoted or mentioned in many major online and print publications, including Forbes, Lifehacker.com, ComputerWorld, LinkedIn, Reddit, Betanews.com, Bleeping Computer, TechCrunch, PC World, Tom's Hardware, Slashdot, Hacker News, The Register, and more.


Martin's articles on Ghacks

Mozilla confirms Firefox's end of support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 systems

Mozilla, maker of the open source Firefox web browser, has confirmed the end of support date of Firefox for the Microsoft operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Microsoft ended […]

How to disable stock price information on Windows 11's taskbar

Windows 11's Widget icon is displayed prominently on the Windows 11 taskbar. It is the only icon that is displayed on the left side on the taskbar, while all other icons, including […]

Mullvad VPN ends support for port forwarding

Mullvad VPN is ending support for port forwarding. The organization announced the change on its official blog. Read on to find out why Mullvad has made the decision and what it means […]

Windows Configuration Updates explained

Microsoft released KB5026446 for Windows 11 version 22H2 a few days ago. The official changelog for the Windows update lists just two new features, even though it is also including the features […]

Number of new country code phishing domains dropped significantly thanks to Meta

The number of newly registered country code phishing domains has dropped significantly in the past couple of months thanks to Meta, Facebook's parent company. Most phishing attacks require a website and many […]

Microsoft updates Outlook Stable to include Authenticator functionality

Microsoft previewed Authenticator Lite in its Outlook mobile application last month after having announced the planned feature in March 2o23. Today, Microsoft announced the general availability of the Authenticator functionality in the […]

First look at Brave Browser's upcoming Off The Record feature

Brave Software plans to launch a new privacy feature, called Off The Record, in the upcoming Brave Browser 1.53. Off The Record addresses a very specific use case: it is designed to […]

Windows 11's Get Updates as soon as they're available feature explained

Microsoft introduced a new feature in stable versions of its Windows 11 operating system recently. It is called "Get Updates as soon as they're available" and a new option in the Windows […]

It is getting crowded on the Windows desktop

Widgets, the Edge Bar search field and Microsoft Edge sidebar, and Windows Copilot can all be displayed on the Windows desktop, and that is not even considering other features that Microsoft may […]

Windows is used by over 1 billion users according to Microsoft

It does not happen very often that Microsoft provides information on the number of devices or users of its Windows operating systems or other products. Yesterday was such a day, as Microsoft […]

netflix

Amazon deletes tweet endorsing Prime Video account sharing

Netflix is launching tools in more and more countries to prevent the sharing of a Netflix account outside of the primary household. The company launched password sharing restrictions in the United States, […]

HP+ is another reason not to buy HP printers

Is printer ink really more expensive than gold? Original printer ink is without a shadow of a doubt very expensive, and companies like HP or Epson earn a lot of money from […]

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Google Authenticator's mysterious security update does not enable end-to-end encryption

Google has released a new update for its Google Authenticator application. The changelog reveals that Google "added device encryption to storage of secret value". Users who have hoped that Google would integrate […]

Mozilla showed VPN ads in Firefox before suspending them

Some Mozilla Firefox users have received popup advertisement in the browser recently. Mozilla used the ad to promote its own Mozilla VPN service to users of the browser. The campaign has now […]

Soon, Windows 11 users will be able to remove the MSN news feed widget

Microsoft Windows 11 users may soon remove the MSN news feed widget from the operating system's Widgets board. Microsoft made the announcement during a keynote speech at its Build 2023 developer conference. […]

Saving or copying may fail on Windows: here is why

Have you tried saving or copying again? That's Microsoft's workaround for a new issue that is plaguing some users of the company's Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems. Microsoft confirmed the […]

KB5026446 for Windows 11 brings new features, but not for everyone

Microsoft has released an update for its Windows 11 operating system, KB5026446, a few hours ago. The preview update includes new features, courtesy of the third Moments update, and lots of fixes. […]

PowerToys 0.70: control 4 PCs with one mouse and keyboard

Remember Mouse without Borders? A Microsoft Garage project that allowed you to control multiple PCs with a single mouse and keyboard set. Launched in 2011, it was a useful software as it […]

Windows 11 may soon restore apps during setup

One of the features that Microsoft's Windows operating system was lacking up until now was an option to restore installed apps on devices during setup. Google's Android operating system, for instance, supports […]

bitwarden

Password manager Bitwarden will soon be able to store passkeys

Bitwarden users will be able to save, store and manage passkeys in the password manager this summer, according to a new announcement on the official Bitwarden blog. Passkeys is a new authentication […]

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You may now communicate with an Ai called Aria in Opera's web browsers

Opera Software announced the integration of AI into its web browsers today. Aria is based on OpenAI technology and is launched as a preview in Opera One and Opera for Android browsers. […]

Windows 11 will soon extract RAR, 7z and other archive formats natively

Microsoft's Build 2023 developer conference first day has brought a number of important announcements regarding the future of Windows 11. While AI integration has been the main focus so far, Microsoft did […]

netflix

Netflix password sharing in the United States: extra member slot costs more than the cheapest plan

Netflix announced today that it has started to impose restrictions on account password sharing in the United States after having postponed the launch previously. Netflix reiterates in the notification that "a Netflix […]

Firefox 113.0.2 fixes a crash on Windows and some other issues

Mozilla has just released a new stable version of its open source Firefox web browser. Firefox 113.0.2 is the second point release and already available via the browser's automatic updating system. Firefox […]

WhatsApp latest security feature may be a nuisance for password manager users

WhatsApp users may set up the application to create automatic backups of their data; this is useful for several purposes, including moving from one device to another without losing all messages and […]

Samsung Knox Matrix: your fridge may soon help protect your smartphones

Samsung celebrates ten years of its Knox security platform this month. First introduced in 2013, Knox has evolved over the years into a security platform that is protecting "billions of consumers and […]

sandisk

SanDisk confirms major issues with Extreme SSDs

Reports about SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro drives becoming unreadable out of the blue have started about 4 months ago. SanDisk has now responded to an inquiry by Ars Technica, stating that […]

bing chat

Bing Chat keeps a conversation history now

Microsoft's Bing Chat search is getting a large number of new features and updates regularly. Microsoft publishes updates regularly on the Bing website that list new features and improvements. The most recent […]

Remove stock Windows 11 apps with open source JunkCtrl

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system comes with dozens of stock applications for all sorts of tasks. Some apps are used a lot, others occasionally, and then there are apps that may not […]

EverythingToolbar Windows search gets an update checker

A new version of the open source EverythingToolbar application introduces support for automatic update checks and makes other improvements. EverythingToolbar is a companion app for the popular Windows search tool Everything. Everything […]

The Windows Start, Search and UWP opening issue is back

Microsoft has updated a Windows issue on May 18, 2023 that has plagued Windows users since January 2023. It describes an issue that affects the opening of apps on the Start Menu, […]

Neeva shuts down its search engine to focus on AI products

Remember Neeva? We reviewed the search engine back in 2022. The startup promised a better search experience and based this on a number of product ideas. One of the core ones was […]

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti unveiled, starting at $299

Nvidia has unveiled three new graphics adapter of the RTX 40 family that aim at the mid-range market segment. The GeForce RTX 4060 will retail for $299, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti […]

How to fix internal drives showing up as removable on Windows 11

There is a clear distinction between internal, or fixed, hard drives and removable drives. The most common difference is that removable drives are usually connected to outside ports of the device. Removal […]

Asus responds to mass router outage that customers experienced

Asus customers from around the world started to report that their Asus routers were having a issue on Wednesday. For most users, their routers appeared to be freezing every few minutes or […]

microsoft

Internet Explorer 11 is still not dead and will live another day

Microsoft ended support for its Internet Explorer 11 browser on Windows 10 in 2022. The company then explained that it would remove the browser from Windows 10 systems, stating that it would […]

Google updates inactive accounts policy with a new exception

Google has updated its policy regarding inactive Google accounts. The company announced a new inactive accounts policy earlier this month. Google accounts considered inactive may be deleted after two years of inactivity […]

Don't expect too much from Windows 11 version 23H2

Microsoft is still on track to release a feature update for its Windows 11 operating system later this year. The company announced a stop for feature updates for Windows 10, but Windows […]

Google's Privacy Sandbox is ready. Chrome to drop third-party cookies in 2024

Google published an update on its Privacy Sandbox initiative and the fate of third-party cookies in the company's Chrome web browser. The news was published on the German version of Google's main […]

How to hide the Shorts section on YouTube

Depending on who you ask, YouTube Shorts is either the most annoying feature on YouTube or a great way of watching TikTok-like short videos on the platform. Google has pushed Shorts to […]