Author: Martin Brinkmann

When I was young, I studied German, History and English at Essen University in Germany. I worked in computer support for several years at the time to help other computer users when they ran into issues. Writing started out as a passion project, as I wanted to help more users and not just the ones that I handled in support. This lead to the founding of Ghacks Technology News in 2005. First, as a side-project, but shortly thereafter as a full-time project as the site's popularity exploded. I sold Ghacks to Softonic some years ago, but stayed on as Editor. You can still read my articles on the site. I do publish on Betanews as well. In recent years, I started to write and publish technology books, including my latest book "Windows 11 From Beginner to Advanced", which is available on Amazon. I'm also a freelance writer for the German publisher Gamestar. Chipp.in is my newest project. I want to use it to talk about my book projects, sell my books directly, and write about technology, as this is what interests me.

Microsoft relaunches controversial AI-feature Recall: a bug highlights why it is still problematic

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft released a new build to the Canary insider channel that gives testers on Copilot+ PCs the option to test the AI feature Recall again.

You may remember that Microsoft announced it with some fanfare earlier this year only to be overwhelmed by the negative response that it received. It got pulled quickly by Microsoft and the company promised to go back to the drawing board to address major areas of concern.

Most of these centered on privacy and security issues.

Good to know: Recall is designed as a history feature. It captures screenshots of the screen in intervals and parses them using AI. Users may then use natural language to search the activity history and find certain content that they might not find otherwise.

Recall is available again, at least for testers on the Insider channel who use devices that meet the Copilot+ PC requirements.

Microsoft has a big post on the Windows Insider Blog that lists the changes that it made to improve privacy and security. One of the most important changes is that Recall is no longer opt-out. Means, you do not have to worry about the feature unless you enable it.

A list of known issues is attached to the page. There, you find the following issue:

Websites added as filters may be saved if the content is in split screen or side bar pane in Edge. This will be addressed in an update.

In other words: even if you have set up certain websites to be excluded from Recall, the AI may still record them if they are displayed in split screen or side bar pane view in Microsoft Edge.

This is a problem, considering that sensitive information may become available. You may recall that Recall is not compatible with all browsers that you may run.

If you run an unsupported browser, all filters will be ignored as well. The end result is that activity that you do not want recorded will be recorded, if you enable Recall.

Closing Words

Recall may be a useful feature in certain environments. Think business or Enterprise PCs that are used for very specific tasks only. Provided that security and privacy is airtight, Recall might be useful in some scenarios.

For home users or PCs with mixed activity, it might not be that useful. If you search for past content a lot and do not find it using Windows Search or other search tools, then it might be useful.

If you do not, there is little use in Recall, especially if you consider the scope of it and the access that it has to information.

What is your take on Recall? Would you use it under some circumstances? Or do you miss the use case that would it make useful for you? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows 11 24H2 no longer offered if certain Ubisoft games are installed

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Windows 11 PCs with certain Ubisoft games installed won’t receive the upgrade offer to Windows 11, version 24H2 anymore at the time of writing.

Related content:

Windows 11 24H2: Firmware update addresses crash issue for Western Digital and Sandisk SSD

Microsoft confirmed the new issue and has put a compatibility hold in place that prevent Windows Update from offering the upgrade on affected machines.

Here is the list of affected games:

  • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • Assassin’s Creed Origins
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyseey
  • Star Wars Outlaws
  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Microsoft says that players may experience issues with these games on devices running the latest version of Windows.

In particular, Microsoft mentions the following symptoms:

  • Games may become unresponsive while starting, loading or during active gameplay.
  • Users may see a black screen.

Games may need to be ended through the Task Manager in some cases. This is Microsoft’s workaround if the issue is encountered.

  1. Open Task Manager. This can be accomplished by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start button and select Task Manager from the menu.
  2. In the Task Manager window, look for your game in the Processes tab. It might be listed under the name of the game or the game launcher.
  3. Click on the game’s name to highlight it. Then, click the End Task button at the bottom right of the window. This will close the game.

Note about compatibility holds: Microsoft uses these to block updates via some update management systems. These won’t prevent direct upgrades, for instance by using Windows 11 installation media. They also do not protect against changes that occur after the affected version of Windows is installed.

Plenty of Windows 11, 24H2 issues

Microsoft confirmed another four issues this month alone. Two of these have been resolved, one mitigated at the time of writing.

The last issue standing affects standalone USB scanners that support the eScanner Communication Language (eSCL) scan protocol. These may not be discovered correctly by the Windows system.

Microsoft has not published a workaround for the issue at the time.

Do you run Windows 11, or Windows 11, version 24H2? Did you run into any issues? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

How to block (most) ads on Android

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

While it is relatively easy to install ad-blockers on desktop devices, the same cannot be said for mobile devices.

On desktop, all you have to do is install an extension in your preferred browser and you are all set; at least when it comes to ads on websites. You could also pick a browser with a built-in ad-blocker, which make things even easier.

Most browsers on mobile do not support extensions. They could, and some do, but the majority does not. Some browsers come with built-in content blockers, Brave does for instance. Firefox supports extensions, including uBlock Origin on mobile.

Related content:

Android Apps: Exodus reveals trackers and permissions before installation

But what if you want to block ads in mobile ads? Browsers or extensions don’t help you in that case.

DNS-based solutions come to the rescue

One of the options that you have is to change the DNS provider on the mobile device. Some come with ad-blocking by default, and that takes care of most ads on the device, including in apps.

Here is a short list of providers that support this:

Let’s pick Mullvad from the list for this guide. The content blocking DNS server is adblock.dns.mullvad.net. You can also use other DNS servers, which block additional types of content that you may want to block.

Here is the overview:

  • adblock.dns.mullvad.net (Ads, Trackers)
  • base.dns.mullvad.net (Ads, Trackers, Malware)
  • extended.dns.mullvad.net (Ads, Trackers, Malware, Social Media)
  • family.dns.mullvad.net (Ads, Trackers, Malware, Adult, Gambling)
  • all.dns.mullvad.net (Ads, Tracking, Malware, Adult, Gambling, Social Media)

Do the following to set one of these up on your Android device:

Block ads with custom DNS
  1. Open the Settings on the Android device.
  2. Switch to Connections > More connection settings.
  3. Activate Private DNS on the page that opens.
  4. Select “Private DNS provider hostname”.
  5. Type the DNS server name, e.g., adblock.dns.mullvad.net.
  6. Tap on the Save button.

You may need to close open apps before the changes take effect in them. Ads should be reduced or even completely eliminated now in apps that you use.

Note that some options, like the ability to “get something” in games by watching an ad, won’t work anymore once you make the change. Regular ads in games, shown while you play the game, should be gone though.

You can undo the change at any time by switching back to Automatic or by changing the provider hostname to another one.

Do you use custom DNS solutions on your devices? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

WhatsApp finally has an answer for annoying voice messages

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I have to admit that I do use WhatsApp for communication with certain relatives and friends. Some of them have the habit of sending voice messages instead of text messages.

If you are like me, you dislike this a lot. I have to play the messages to listen to them, and may have to replay them, if something is not clear. To play a message, I need to either use headphones or play the message in a location where it does not bother anyone else.

Related:

WhatsApp: set an optional username and Pin for protection against unwanted messages

Voice Message Transcripts

WhatsApp has announced a new feature that puts an end to this. It is called voice message transcripts and will transcribe voice messages to text for you.

Here are the details:

  • Voice Message Transcripts are disabled by default.
  • Long-press on a message and select the transcribe option to start the process.
  • WhatsApp says the processing happens on the local device.

The feature is rolling out to all users of WhatsApp in the coming weeks. To enable it, go to Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts. If you do not see the option at this point, check at a later point again.

You may also set the preferred language for the transcriptions. Note that this may require a download of a language pack to the device for the selected language.

Once enabled, long-press any voice message and select transcribe to get a text version of the message.

WhatsApp notes that there may be issues during the process. The app displays “Transcript unavailable” as an error message then.

This may have different causes, including:

  • The transcript language does not match the voice message language.
  • Some words are not recognized, likely because of background noise.
  • The language of the voice message is not supported.

Closing Words

The new option is useful, but it still requires manual action for each voice message. It would be great if WhatsApp would implement an auto-transcribe feature, as it would improve the process further.

Do you use WhatsApp? What is your take on the feature? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

About Windows 11’s new Administrator protection feature

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft has announced Administrator protection for Windows 11. The new security feature aims to improve security on Windows 11 devices by changing certain actions that require elevation are carried out and handled.

For users, it means that they need to authorize elevated actions using Windows Hello. Depending on how that is set up, it may require entering the device PIN, using biometric authentication, or other means available on the device.

The core changes happen in the background. When a user signs in to Windows, that user is assigned what Microsoft calls a deprivileged user token. When admin privileges are needed, for instance when installing software, Windows will request authorization from the user using Windows Hello.

When the user does so, Windows “uses a hidden, system-generated, profile-separated user account to create an isolated admin token”. This token is “issued to the requesting process and is destroyed once the process ends”.

In other words, the admin privileges do not persist on the system, but end with the execution of the task that requested them.

The following illustration visualizes the process.

Separation of the isolated admin token on Windows 11. source: Microsoft

Microsoft lists the following benefits of Administrator protection:

  • Improved security by requiring explicit authorization for “every administrative task”.
  • Users may manage admin rights by granting or restricting “access granularly to individual apps”.
  • Malware that is designed to acquire administrative privileges silently is blocked.

Managing Administrator protection

Group Policy setting

It appears that Administrator protection is disabled by default. Microsoft explains how administrators may enable the new protection.

It is located under Windows Security > Account protection. There, administrators may toggle Administrator protection to turn the feature on (or off). A restart of the device is required.

There is also a new policy under Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.

  • Double-click on User Account Control: Configure type of Admin Approval Mode.
  • Change the Local Security Setting to “Admin Approval Mode with Administrator protection”. This enables the feature.

Closing Words

Administrator protection is an optional feature it appears. This means that it won’t be enabled on most home systems any time soon.

The feature improves security against certain types of malware, but it makes certain operations cumbersome. It remains to be seen how well the Windows 11 community will react to the feature.

Would you enable Administrator protection, if it would be available on your system? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Will Google be forced to sell its Chrome web browser?

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google could be forced to sell of the company’s Chrome web browser and be required to make changes to other company products and services, including Android and AI.

Bloomberg reports that Justice Department antitrust officials will ask a judge to force Alphabet Inc to make the changes. The same judge ruled in August that Google has monopolized the search market illegally.

Why Chrome? According to Bloomberg, Chrome is the entry point for many interactions with Google Search. It is the default search engine on Chrome and most users keep it that way. Chrome is also a powerful weapon for Google to understand what users are searching for and what they do on the Internet.

Lastly, Google is using Chrome to support or promote other products and services. AI will play a much bigger role in the future, and what better way than Chrome to get it in from of hundreds of million of Chrome users.

Google may also be forced to “uncouple its Android smartphone operating system from its other products”. This includes search and Google Play.

Bloomberg says that the government has options to remove Chrome from the deal if Google makes other changes that “create a more competitive market”.

The judge planned for a two-week hearing in April 2025 and a final verdict by August 2025. Google already said that it is going to appeal the verdict.

Closing Words

The forced sale of Chrome and some of the other changes would have a major impact on Google’s business. With Chrome sold, it might have to broker a deal with the company that acquired the browser to make Google Search the default search engine. Considering that it pays millions to Mozilla and billions to Apple for that, it would probably cost Google a lot to remain Chrome’s default search engine.

The final verdict is less than a year away, but that won’t be the end of it. Google will appeal, which means that it could years before anything comes out of it.

What is your take on this? Should Google be forced to sell Chrome or make changes to any of its other services or products?

Essential Black Friday Tips to survive the day

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Black Friday is almost here and a lot of pre-Black Friday events are already happening. It seems like that single day of discounted shopping has turned into a nightmarish weeks-long event that does not seem to end.

Businesses portrait Black Friday as the day to get the most for your money. Huge discounts or upgrades. You name it.

What they do not mention is that Black Friday is all about impulsive purchases. You browse, you see something that the site or store claims is discounted hugely, and you buy it. These may be items that you may not even need, or at least did not have on your mind when you began to shop.

Tip: you can check out my tips to survive Prime Day as well. All tips help at Black Friday and any other shopping event as well.

  • Maintain a list of items that you need. The more detailed the better. Use it to shop on Black Friday.
  • Compare the price of items. Not all items are at their cheapest on Black Friday. Use your mobile when shopping locally to compare prices.
  • Avoid browsing or websites that list deal after deal. This leads to impulsive purchases, which you want to avoid.
  • Avoid sites that use countdowns or other methods that put pressure on you.
  • Research items before you buy them. Read reviews or customer comments. You can do that before the big day for items on your list.
  • Don’t use just a single site for Black Friday shopping, unless it sells unique items or services.

How I handle Black Friday

In case you are wondering; I use a simple text document on my mobile phone to track the items that I need to purchase in the not-so-distant future.

I add any item to it, from household items over entertainment to apparel. It is not a huge list and there is no rush to buy these items.

Whenever a sale comes up, I check the price of each of the listed items to find bargains. If I find some, I hit the add to cart and buy buttons. If not, I keep them on the list and wait for the next sale or a situation where I need to buy them immediately.

It is simple, but it works.

Have something to add? Do you care about Black Friday or other shopping events?

5 Takeaways from NSA’s Best Practices for Mobile Devices

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mobile devices are seemingly everywhere. Many people carry them around all day. This makes them a valuable target for attacks.

The NSA published a document earlier this year in which it highlights best practices for mobile devices. It is a simple document, that divides suggestions into the labels avoid, disable, do, and don’t.

Some suggestions appear very basic for experienced users. Like, making sure that the operating system and apps are up to date, not opening attachments or links from untrusted sources, or not having sensitive conversations on personal devices..

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A few of the suggestions may be new advice, even for experienced users. Or, it may be known but not practiced.

Here are five takeaways that I found interesting

  • You should reboot the device at least once a week.
  • Do not have sensitive conversations in the vicinity of the mobile device.
  • Use a protective case that “drowns the microphone” and block the camera when it is not used.
  • Disable Bluetooth, Location, and Wi-Fi when it is not used. Never connect to public Wi-Fi networks.
  • Use a protective case that “drowns the microphone”. Also block the camera when it is not in use.

Some of these make using mobile devices cumbersome and that is likely one of the main reasons why most mobile users are probably not restarting their device once a week or turning of Wi-Fi.

You can check out the full list of suggestions here.

What is your take on this? Do you restart your device regularly or follow some or all of the other suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts that save me a lot of time, and two that do not

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Windows supports hundreds of different keyboard shortcuts. Some of them basic, like pressing the Windows-key to open the Start menu. Others more advanced, like pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc to open the Task Manager.

Not all shortcuts are equally useful. While usefulness depends somewhat on how you use Windows, some shortcuts are certainly more useful than others.

The following shortcuts are the ones that I use most often. They save me a lot of time on my day to day work.

The timesavers

Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V

The shortcut pair copies and pastes your selections. This works in Explorer with files and folders, but also for text and anything else that you may select.

  • Ctrl-C — Copies the selection to the Clipboard.
  • Ctrl-V — Pastes the Clipboard entry into the active application.

Windows-I

The shortcut opens the Settings on Windows 10 or 11 machines directly.

Windows-X

The “secret” menu opens when you use the shortcut. It displays a number of links to admin tools such as the Device Manager, Network settings, and more.

Windows-[left or right]-arrow

The shortcut snaps the active window to the left or the right side of the screen. Useful to display two apps or windows side-by-side in a matter of seconds.

Ctrl-S

To quickly save content. Most programs that support save operations support this. You can use it in an image or text editor to quickly save content, and in many other apps as well.

Ctrl-P

To print a document, image, or other content quickly. The shortcut opens the print dialog right away.

The superfluous shortcuts

The next two shortcuts are not really that useful, as you can use quicker actions for the same effect.

Ctrl-Esc

The keyboard shortcut opens the Start menu on Windows. There is not really a need for this shortcut, as you can also press the Windows-key, which is faster.

Windows-S

This particular shortcut opens the search interface. It is not really needed either, as you can also search when you open the Start menu. So, pressing Windows and starting to type the search term should be sufficient for most users and most cases.

Now You: do you have shortcuts that you use regularly? Feel free to share them in the comment section below.

Microsoft is removing this category from the official Store

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I do not know a single Windows user who is using the Microsoft Store regularly. Microsoft has not revealed how successful the store is, which likely means that it is not successful enough to boast about it.

The company has tried various changes in the past. A recent change, announced at the end of last year, is being removed again already.

Arcade, or Arcade Games, was an attempt to replicate functionality known from mobile stores. It allows customers to play games instantly without installing them first.

Related article:

Looking for Windows Wallpapers? Microsoft has a download site for them

The idea is not bad: give customers an option to try a game for free. This allows them to test the game to see if they like it. If they do, they install the game and can continue playing.

The idea suffered from a lackluster implementation:

  • The listing includes about 50 games only.
  • It lacked a stream of fresh, new games.
  • The games were very basic for the most part.

When you open the Arcade section in the Microsoft Store, you may notice an announcement at the top. It informs you that the section is being removed today from the Store.

It is easy to overlook, as the title “Play free games with no download” makes no mention of the closure of the section.

The games remain available, but you need to download them before you may start playing. This should not be much of a problem, as most of the games appear relatively small in size and functionality.

Closing Words

Arcade seemingly did not have the effect that Microsoft hoped it would have. The same can probably be said for the Microsoft Store, but it is nowadays also used to update apps installed by default on Windows devices.

Now You: have you tried the Microsoft Store in recent time? Maybe even downloaded a game or app? Feel free to leave a comment down below.