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

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 […]

Photos app for Windows 11 insiders adds Slideshow, Timeline Scrollbar and Spot Fix

Windows 11's Photos app gets support for WebP

Microsoft started the rollout of an updated version of its Photos app for Windows 11 to Windows Insiders earlier this month. The rollout is still ongoing, but anyone interested may download the […]

Your KeePass Master Password may be at risk, but a fix is coming

A recently disclosed vulnerability in the KeePass password manager may be exploited to retrieve the master password. The vulnerability, CVE-2023-32784. indicates that the master password may be recovered from system memory dumps, […]

Microsoft army goggles

Microsoft is rolling out anonymous Bing Chat access

Microsoft is rolling out an update to its AI service Bing Chat that allows anyone to use the service. Right now, a Microsoft account is required to access Bing Chat and communicate […]

microsoft

Microsoft still fiddling around with Windows 11's Local Security protection is off issue

Microsoft confirmed the "Local Security Authority protection is off" Windows 11 issue in March 2023. The company then produced a solution for it, but had to retract the solution as it was […]

Google released Chrome 113 security update with 12 security fixes

Google has just released an update for its Chrome web browser that addresses several security issues in it. Google Chrome 113 Stable and Google Chrome 112 Extended Stable address 12 different security […]

steam

Valve's Steam gaming platform drops Google Analytics to improve privacy

Valve Software announced a major change coming to its Steam gaming platform regarding privacy and the reporting of data to game developers. Steam developers get access to aggregated data "on overall traffic […]

Google will delete inactive accounts starting December 2023

Google customers who have not used their accounts for 2 years may have their accounts deleted automatically by the company from December 2023 onward. Google announced a change to the company's inactive […]

Nvidia and MediaTek reportedly working on mobile and Windows ARM chipsets together

A report by Digi Times Asia claims that MediaTek and Nvidia are working on introducing Nvidia graphics processing units into MediaTek's 2024 mobile processors. The two companies are also collaborating to develop […]

Virustotal expands AI security scans to AutoHotkey and other scripts

Google launched VirusTotal Code Insight in April 2023 to expand the functionality of its malware detection and analysis platform. Up until now, VirusTotal could tell its users whether antivirus engines considered a […]

List of Microsoft products that reach end of support in 2023

Several Microsoft products will reach end of support in 2023, including versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11, Microsoft Office and Server products. Two major versions of Windows have reached end of […]

Microsoft scan ZIP archives

Microsoft's cloud services are scanning password protected ZIP archives

Microsoft cloud services, including OneDrive and SharePoint, have started to scan password protected ZIP archives that users upload or share using these services. Internet users have a number of options when it […]

Microsoft removes MSN and most ads from Windows 11's Weather App

Microsoft released an updated Weather application for Windows 11 last month to development channels. The updated version turned the, rather basic, weather app of the operating system into a totally different product. […]

Google's .zip Top Level domain is already used in phishing attacks

Google released the top-level domain .zip to the public recently, which means that interested organizations and users may register .zip domains. Cyber criminals are already using .zip domains in phishing campaigns. According […]

Winaero Tweaker 1.52 ships with Windows 11 improvements

Winaero Tweaker 1.52 is a free system tweaker for Microsoft Windows devices to customize features of the operating system. The application was updated to version 1.52 recently, which improves usage on Microsoft's […]

Windows 10 will still get smaller feature updates

When Microsoft revealed that the current Windows 10 version would be the last, it was not clear if Windows 10 would still get smaller feature updates or if Microsoft would limit updates […]

windows 11

Windows 11 is getting these new features soon

Microsoft plans to release the next Moments update for Windows 11 soon. Moments updates are smaller feature updates that introduce changes to the Windows 11 operating system. The company has not revealed […]

HP blocks use of third-party ink in its printers again

Printer manufacturers make the most money from ink cartridges and not from the sale of printers. Printer ink may sometimes be more expensive than the printer itself. It is an open secret, […]

Windows 10 21H2 systems will be upgraded to 22H2 automatically

Microsoft's Windows 10 version 21H2 operating system reaches end of servicing in June 2023. To ensure that devices continue to receive security updates, Microsoft announced that these devices will be updated to […]

Brave Browser may soon delete cookies and data when websites are closed

Brave Software is working on a new privacy feature for its Brave Browser that it calls Forgetful Browsing. The feature is scheduled for inclusion in Brave 1.53 for the desktop and Brave […]

Firefox 113.0.1 fixes three non-security issues in the browser

Mozilla has just released the first Firefox 113.0 point release. The update addresses three non-security issues in the browser, including an incorrect colors issue on Windows and a video playback issue. Firefox […]

YouTube is blocking ad blockers to push Premium subscription

How to bypass YouTube's anti ad blocker prompt

For the past couple of days, some YouTube users were blocked from watching videos on the site. These users were informed that "ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube" and that they […]

Some Google Drive files may land in the new Spam folder soon

Google's file storage and synchronization service Google Drive will get a dedicated Spam folder later this month. Google announced the change during its Google I/O 2023 event. The Spam folder works similarly […]

Microsoft's bid to make Bing the default Firefox search engine

Microsoft's Bing search engine could soon become the default search engine of Mozilla's Firefox web browser. All web browsers come with a default search engine that is used when users run searches. […]

Twitter: Pay us to encrypt your direct messages

Elon Musk confirmed the availability of encrypted direct messages on Twitter earlier today after he teased it last week. The milestone is marred by restrictions, as the feature is only available for […]

Google now lets you create Passkeys for your accounts

Should you protect your Google Account with a passkey instead of a password?

Last week, Google unlocked the ability to create passkeys to protect Google Accounts and to switch to using passkeys instead of passwords for protection. The question that Google customers may have is […]

google labs

Google launches experimentation platform Search Labs

Google Search Labs is a new initiative from Google that allows users to test early-stage experiments in Google Search. The goal of Search Labs is to give users a first look at […]

Google drops the waitlist for its Bard AI

Users interested in Google Bard, the company's AI chatbot and answer to Microsoft Bing Chat, had to join a waitlist to eventually gain access to Bard. Yesterday, Google announced that the days […]

amazon anywhere

You can now buy from Amazon in games and apps

It feels already as if Amazon is everywhere. The mighty company has come a long way since its humble beginnings and has expanded into more and more areas. With such a large […]

thunderbird

Thunderbird donations have jumped by over 100% in 2022

The Thunderbird team, responsible for the open source cross-platform Thunderbird email client, published its financial report this week. Almost all revenue of the project is based on donations. The team states that […]