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
Winamp used to be a popular audio player for Windows. Things went quiet after its heyday and rights changed hands several times in that period. Veteran users of the player had big […]
There was a lot of outcry when Netflix announced the introduction of ads on its platform. The streaming service introduced an ad-powered plan in late 2022 in select regions. At $6.99 per […]
Microsoft has released security updates for all supported versions of its Microsoft Windows operating system and other company products. This security updates overview provides system administrators and home users with information on […]
Mozilla plans to release Firefox 126.0 Stable later today. The new version of Firefox is a smaller release, as it makes just a few changes. Noteworthy are improvements to the browser's copy […]
Look, another advertising test in Windows 11. Microsoft launched a new build to the Windows 11 Insider Dev channel on Friday. Windows 11 build 26120.470 fixes issues for the most part. It […]
Microsoft introduced support for what it calls Start Menu Companions in a recent Windows 11 beta build. This feature adds a sidebar to the Start Menu that display information, for instance from […]
Password cracking tools improve all the time. With AI entering the game, the time to brute force passwords has been reduced significantly already and continues to be reduced. Password guidelines and rules […]
Microsoft is testing new activation related restrictions on Windows 11 currently that affect the system's integrated Microsoft Edge browser. Windows 11 can be installed without a product key. This leaves the operating […]
Researchers from Leviathan Security have discovered a new vulnerability that affects virtual private networks (VPNs) on most platforms. VPNs serve multiple purposes. They encrypt all traffic when connected to a VPN server […]
A clean installation of Windows 10 or Windows 11 may enable Bitlocker drive encryption automatically. The main system partition and all fixed drives will be encrypted in this case after the out-of-box […]
Mozilla confirmed a recaptcha issue in the organization's Firefox web browser yesterday evening. Affected Firefox users see a spinning animation when they try to solve the captcha, which means that they are […]
Bitwarden has released a first public version of Bitwarden Authenticator, a two-factor authentication app for Android and iOS. The app generates codes for services, which are then required to sign to accounts. […]
Arc Browser, a Chromium-based browser, is now available for Windows. The browser was previously available as a waitlist-restricted beta version. If you added your name to the waitlist, but never received an […]
Netflix has started to ask basic plan customers to pick another plan to continue using the service without interruption. The streaming company has been at war with the Basic plan for some […]
Will every PC sold in 2030 be an AI PC? Analysts at Canalys predict that every PC sold by 2030 will have on-device AI capabilities. Microsoft, PC manufacturers, and chip manufacturers have […]
Users of the password management solution Bitwarden are one step closer to full passkeys support. The organization launched new beta apps for Android and iOS earlier this month that introduced limited passkeys […]
Microsoft has decreased the size of updates for Windows 10 significantly, which means that they will download faster now. Back in 2021, Microsoft announced that it has cut the size of updates […]
Starting next month and available as a preview right now, Windows 11's Start Menu will show promotions for certain apps. This time, advertised apps will show up in the recommended section of […]
Microsoft is changing the system requirements of the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 feature update. When Microsoft released Windows 11, it changed the minimum system requirements significantly. This locked out millions of Windows […]
Microsoft launched Microsoft Store installers for web over the weekend to improve Microsoft Store application installs. The feature improves the process of downloading and installing apps like Microsoft PC Manager from the […]
Windows 10 users who sign in using local accounts may see Sign in to your Microsoft account nags when they open the Settings app. The functionality is rolling out in release preview […]
Brave Search's new Answer with AI feature is now available. The feature replaces AI Summarizer, which was used on Brave Search previously to provide summaries based on user queries. In a nutshell: […]
It is April 2024. The deadline for compliance with the Digital Markets Act was in March 2024. Still, even with all the latest updates installed, I cannot uninstall Microsoft Edge from any […]
Google just announced that it is intensifying its fight against adblockers on YouTube. The message was posted to the official YouTube support website. The writing was on the wall. Reports about changes […]
About six years ago, vulnerabilities were discovered that affected most Intel and AMD processors. The vulnerabilities, Spectre and Meltdown, can be exploited to read sensitive data from attacked computer systems. Intel released […]
Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has about 18 months of official support left. Customers may further extend support by up to three years, but this comes at a cost. Now, Microsoft is […]
Soon, all users of the photo viewing and editing app Google Photos may use a number of AI tools to edit their photos. Google announced yesterday that the three AI tools Magic […]
A fundamental shift happened in the development of the Windows operating system in recent years. Some say it started during the development of Windows 11, Microsoft's newest operating system. Others suggest that […]
The April 2024 security updates for Windows are now available. Microsoft released the security updates for all supported Windows versions and also other company products on today's Patch Day. Our overview helps […]
Microsoft has integrated the driver userChoice Protection Driver, short UCPD, into Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems recently. This driver has just one purpose: to block access to UserChoice Registry keys. These […]
A report by the Financial Times (via Neowin) suggests that Google is considering charging search users for use of AI-powered search features. The push towards an AI powered future has reached search […]
Google released a security update for its Chrome web browser to address another 0-day security vulnerability. This is the second 0-day vulnerability that Google fixed in Chrome in recent time and the […]
Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system is nearing the end of its life. Come October 2025, support for the operating system ends officially. Microsoft announced that it is going to offer ESU, Extended […]
Mozilla released a Firefox Nightly test build recently that includes support for vertical tabs. This new functionality is not available in regular Firefox Nightly builds, but there is a way to get […]
Would you like to play your favorite Android games on your PC? Run Android apps on PC to use them even without your Android device? It is easier than you may think […]
Microsoft released a security update for its Edge web browser that address several security issues, including one that is exploited in the wild. Google released security updates for its Chrome web browser […]
Microsoft hopes that 2024 will be the year that so-called AI PCs will take off. Tidbits and rumors about this new breed of PCs are found everywhere, but Microsoft itself has been […]
Microsoft released the fifth Moment Update for Windows 11 in February 2024. This release did not reach many user systems, as Microsoft limited its availability artificially. While Microsoft did state that the […]
Microsoft launched a redesign of Windows 11's Task Manager some time ago. The new task manager has a different design but also functional differences. Microsoft removed the -- rather useless -- basic […]
Last week, Microsoft revealed that it started to push its AI Microsoft Copilot to more Windows 10 and 11 devices. The feature, still in preview at the time of writing, shows up […]
