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

Brave appears to install VPN Services without user consent

If you have the Brave Browser installed on your Windows devices, then you may also have Brave VPN services installed on the machine. Brave installs these services without user consent on Windows […]

whatsapp passkeys

WhatsApp rolls out Passkeys support on Android

WhatsApp announced the rollout of passkeys support in WhatsApp for Android on the official Twitter account earlier today. Passkeys is an upcoming security standard that promises improved authentication security. Traditionally, users sign […]

intel-14th processors

Intel launches Core 14th Generation desktop processors

Intel's latest desktop processor chips are now available officially. The first six 14th generation chips by the company are all unlocked. While they do use the same architecture as their predecessors, they […]

Redirect YouTube Videos in Firefox to play them without Ads

Google is cracking down on the use of content blockers on YouTube. More and more users see the Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube message when they try to play videos. […]

How to remove News and Trending content from Windows 11's Search

When you click on the search field in Windows 11 the search interface expands automatically. It displays a list of recent programs on the left side and web content on the right. […]

ubuntu 23.10 desktop

Ubuntu 23.10 released with new Ubuntu App Center and security improvements

Canonical released Ubuntu 23.10, codename Mantic Minotaur, to the public. The new release of the Linux distribution introduces a large number of changes, including an upgrade to Linux kernel 6.5, a new […]

Windows 11 lockscreen ad

How to disable Lock Screen ads on Windows 11

Microsoft displays a lot of promotions and advertisement in its Windows 11 operating system. The lock screen is but one of the locations that Microsoft uses to display promotions to users of […]

Edge 118: updated on-page search may send data to Microsoft

Microsoft has released Microsoft Edge 118, a new stable version of the Chromium-based web browser. The new browser version fixes security issues in Edge and introduces a handful of changes. One of […]

How to stop Microsoft Edge from importing Google Chrome browsing data at launch

Microsoft Edge may import Chrome browsing data automatically and without getting consent. Here is how to stop the browser. Microsoft is testing a new feature in its Edge web browser that is […]

Password Manager KeePass 2.55 warns users about weak security settings

A new version of the password manager KeePass is now available. KeePass 2.55 is a smaller release that improves security, imports and introduces some new features to the application. The new version […]

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Automatic Attack Disruption promises an end of ransomware

Human-operated attacks against computer systems are often difficult to detect. Microsoft promises that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is now capable to "disrupt human-operated attacks like ransomware early in the kill chain without […]

Brave Browser 1.59 is here with security and crash fixes

Brave Browser 1.59 is the new desktop version of the Chromium-based web browser. The release revamps the main menu of the browser, introduces a few new options and fixes security issues and […]

Firefox will soon tell you if product reviews are reliable

Mozilla is testing a new technology in Firefox currently that analyzes reviews on ecommerce sites to help shoppers make buying decisions. Most ecommerce sites support reviews in some form or another. Amazon […]

Malicious Google Chrome extensions

Google Chrome 118 is a massive security update

Google Chrome 118 is now available. The new version of Google's web browser addresses 20 security issues in the browser, one of which is rated critical, and also introduces new features and […]

Microsoft is phasing out VBScript in Windows to improve security

Microsoft announced plans to deprecate Visual Basic Script (VBScript) support in its Windows operating system. The company introduced VBScript, which is modeled on Visual Basic, in 1996. Web developers were the initial […]

The Windows October 2023 security updates fix three 0-day vulnerabilities

The Windows Security Updates for October 2023 are now available. It is a big update for a number of reasons. First, because several Windows products have reached end of support. Second, because […]

google passkeys

About Google's Simplify your sign-in prompts

Simplify your sign-in is a prompt that personal Google customers may see when they sign-in to their Google account. It is an offer to switch from using a password to sign-in to […]

This single command bypasses Windows 11 hardware checks during installation

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system checks several hardware components of a PC during setup to make sure the PC meets the minimum system requirements. Microsoft claims that the change was necessary to […]

Would you trust your browser's tab organizing skills?

Microsoft and Google are working on automatic tab organization options in Edge and Chrome. Tabs play an important role for most users who use a desktop or mobile web browser. All modern […]

Lenovo introduces Android as a Windows alternative on some of its desktop PCs

Lenovo announced a partnership with Esper Device Management this week that brings Esper's custom Android operating system to some Lenovo PCs. The Lenovo ThinkCentre M70a 3rd Gen desktop is the first device […]

VLC Media Player 3.0.19 fixes security issues and improves AV1 support

VideoLAN has updated its cross-platform VLC Media Player application to version 3.0.19. The new version is now yet published on the official project website, but interested users may download it from the […]

Windows 12 in 2024? Intel CFO claims refresh is coming

Is Microsoft going to release a new version of Windows, maybe called Windows 12, in 2024? The company is as usual tight lipped when it comes to new product releases, which means […]

Brave Browser maker lays off 9% of its workforce

Brave Software, maker of Brave Browser and Brave Search, confirmed that it has laid off 9% of its workforce. Brave Software was founded in 2015. The private company has seen significant growth […]

The End of DNS-based Site Blocking is near

For well over three decades, DNS-based site blocking has been used to block users from accessing certain sites on the Internet. Court rulings may commit Internet Service Providers to block their customers […]

Microsoft backs down on counting photos in albums twice against a user's storage

Microsoft made a rather strange announcement back in September 2023 regarding storage on its OneDrive cloud service. The company said back then that photos that users put into albums would count twice […]

firefox

Firefox is getting a button to Reset Private Browsing Sessions

If you are using Firefox Nightly, you may have noticed a new flame icon in the browser's toolbar when its private browsing mode is open. This new button enables Firefox users to […]

Google Pixel 8 series

Google guarantees 7 years of full updates for its Pixel 8 devices

Google unveiled the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro during its Made by Google event this week. Leaks revealed much about the two devices that Google announced during the event. The main […]

A consumer subscription version of Windows may be just around the corner

Rumors about a consumer subscription version of Windows have been floating around for several years. It is the next logical step for Microsoft in its quest to make continuous revenue from its […]

Act Now! Android October 2023 Update patches 2 actively exploited issues

Google has published the October 2023 security updates for Android. The update addresses a total of 54 different security issues. Two of the issues are exploited in the wild, according to Google's […]

Firefox 118 boosts security with Encrypted Client Hello support

Mozilla released Firefox 118 Stable in late September 2023 to the public. It was a major release, as it introduced the long awaited native translate feature in the browser. Privacy friendly translations […]

windows copilot ads

Windows Copilot's is showing third-party Ads to Windows users

Microsoft is about to launch Windows Copilot as part of the October 2023 cumulative update for Windows 11 version 22H2. It is already included in the preview update released at the end […]

Windows 11's Notepad is getting an auto save feature

Microsoft tricks users, blocks removal of the Windows Backup app

Windows Backup is a new application for Windows 10 and 11 devices to back up data on Windows PCs. The backup app was introduced recently on Windows 10 and 11 devices. On […]

VeraCrypt 1.26.7 update brings major changes: read this before updating

It took the developers of the open source encryption software VeraCrypt more than 18 months to release VeraCrypt 1.26.7. It is a big release that addresses several issues and makes other important […]

0patch security updates windows server 2012

Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reach end of support, sort of

On October 10, 2023, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 will reach end of support officially. Microsoft notes on a support page that the products "will no longer receive security […]

Client-side encryption in Gmail on mobile is now available, but most users can't use it

Google launched a security improvement for the Gmail mobile applications for Android and iOS this week that adds client-side encryption support. Client-side encryption gives users control over encryption keys and data; even […]

Firefox Beta for Android lifts restrictions for Extensions

When Mozilla launched the redesigned version of Firefox for Android in 2019 as a preview, it changed several key features of the browser. The classic Firefox for Android browser was not restricted […]

Bing Chat Enterprise

AI responses may link to malware

AI tools are probably the biggest hype in tech in 2023. Companies have pushed out products or are about to. Bing Chat is one of the most prominent tools available, but there […]

Firefox 118.0.1 and ESR 115.3.1 fix a critical security issue

Mozilla has just released a security update for its Firefox web browser that patches a critical security issue in all supported versions of the web browser. The update is available for Firefox […]

Another Chrome security issue is exploited in the wild (and affecting all Chromium-based browsers)

Google released a security update for a security vulnerability in Google Chrome that is exploited in the wild. It is the fifth 0-day vulnerability in Google Chrome in 2023. Other Chromium-based browsers […]

You can now ask Paint on Windows 11 to create images for you

Microsoft is rolling out a new version of its Paint application for Windows that includes Paint Cocreator, an AI component that helps users of Paint create artwork. Paint Cocreator is based on […]