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.

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.

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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.

Kagi Translate

Kagi Translate: text and website translations by Kagi

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Kagi has launched Kagi Translate, a free translation service that it says offers better quality than Google Translate or DeepL.

Kagi, which started out as a service to revolutionize online search, has expanded into different areas since then.

Kagi Translate is the startup’s latest service. It offers the following features:

  • Supports 244 different languages.
  • Translate text.
  • Translate full webpages.
  • Free, zero tracking.

Usage is straightforward. You may either load the main Kagi Translate website and start from there, or prepend https://translate.kagi.com/ before the URL of the webpage that you want to translate.

Free users, those who are not signed in with a Kagi account, will see a captcha. Kagi Search users will have translate functionality integrated into the search engine soon.

Kagi says that it is using a “combination of advanced language models and precise output selection” and that this “delivers translations that surpass existing solutions”.

It claims that its translations are better than those of Google Translate (average) and DeepL (high). It remains to be seen if independent tests and reviews come to the same conclusion.

DeepL, the service which I use the most currently, lacks webpage translations and supports fewer languages than Google Translate, Bing Translate, or Kagi Translate.

While I won’t switch to Kagi Translate any time soon, I will keep an eye on the service and try it from time to time to see how it stacks up against other machine-based translation services.

Still, it is always good to have alternatives, especially if they are free and do not collect user data to make money out of that.

Have you tried Kagi Translate? What is your initial impression of the translation service? Will you continue using it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

The way you connect to public Wi-Fi networks is changing on Android

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google is about to roll out a change on Android that changes how captive portals are opened.

Tip: I never connect to open Wi-Fi networks because of security and privacy concerns. I do use the option to create instant hotspots on Android using my mobile device when possible, which is much safer. Clearly, this works only if you do have mobile coverage on Android.

Good to know: Captive Portals are webpages that are displayed by public wireless networks before Internet access is granted.

The change moves Captive Portal entry pages from being displayed using Android WebView to Android Custom Tabs.

The main benefit of the change is that saved passwords, autofill data and session data becomes available from the default system browser; this may benefit users who sign-in to specific portals regularly.

Some portals may ask users to sign-in to social media accounts or share personal data. This may be cumbersome without autofill support, and the update changes that.

So, if you trust a public Wi-Fi, you may now sign-in faster, if it asks for login data or personal information.

Note that the change is not enabled yet according to Android Authority.

How to remove “OneDrive” from the Windows 11 Explorer menu

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft introduced a new File Explorer context menu in Windows 11. This streamlined menu replaced the classic menu by default, but users can still open it from the new context menu or by holding down the Shift-key before they right-click.

Windows 11 has been around for a few years now, and some Windows 11 users may have noticed that the new context menu has grown in size since then. This is understandable to a degree. Third-party app developers learned how to add entries to the new menu so that links to their apps were shown directly to users.

Good to know:

Fixing OneDrive’s “Creating shareable link…” error loop that never ends

Microsoft did add a fair share of items to the context menu as well. You may notice a OneDrive folder, a Share with Skype option, an Edit with Notepad option for any file type and more there now.

Chance is, you may not need all of them. This guide explains how to remove the OneDrive entry.

Tip: you can remove the apps, if you do not use them, to get rid of the context menu items. If you do use them, you may follow the guide to remove them while leaving the apps untouched.

Remove OneDrive from Windows 11’s context menu

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key
  3. Select Yes to continue.
  4. Paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked into the Path at the top and press the Enter-key.
  5. Right-click on Blocked.
  6. Select New > String value.
  7. Name it {1FA0E654-C9F2-4A1F-9800-B9A75D744B00}.
  8. Double-click on the value.
  9. Set its name to OneDrive.

The change takes effect on the next restart. You may also log off and then on again, or restart the explorer.exe process.

The OneDrive listing should no longer be visible in the context menu afterwards. Note that this does not impact any other OneDrive functionality on the device. Also note that this applies only to the user account under which the change was made.

Now You: how do you handle context menu entries that you do not need? Do you remove them to streamline the context menu or keep and ignore them? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Microsoft to manipulate Mail and Calendar in Windows so that they become unusable in 2025

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

In less than two months, Microsoft will manipulate Windows Mail and Calendar on Windows systems so that they stop working. Microsoft announced the change, in less drastic words, in an update to the Outlook for Windows support page.

There, Microsoft writes:

Support for Windows Mail, Calendar, and People will end on December 31, 2024. We’re currently in the process of moving existing users to the new Outlook for Windows. After December 31, 2024, users will no longer be able to send and receive email using Windows Mail and Calendar.

The change is a culmination of Microsoft’s decision to create and push a new Outlook application to all users. Microsoft confirms that it is migrating users to the new Outlook for Windows.

Microsoft is not shy to point out the benefits and features of the new Outlook. Not all of them are unique or new though.

  • Use AI to “write better emails”.
  • Free and no subscription nedded.
  • Access all your emails in one location.
  • Organize appointments “in one click.
  • Feel secure.
  • Use Microsoft 365 free on the web and “with the click of a button”.
  • Stay organized thanks to universal search and more.
  • Unify accounts.

Not everyone is happy

Part of the userbase sees the change critically, as the new Outlook lacks some features of the classic Mail and Calendar app. On top of that, it has other deficiencies as well.

Users who miss the date may still export their data to the new Outlook, according to Microsoft. They may use the toggle under Settings > General > About Outlook in the new Outlook app to go back to the Outlook for Windows app. The limitations still apply though.

Those who are not satisfied with the new Outlook for Windows app may also switch to another email client. Thunderbird, the open source client that recently got its own Android version, comes to mind.

There are others and most allow you to import data from other clients.

Note: The change does not affect the classic Outlook application for Windows at this point. Microsoft stated in the past already, however, that it will put the classic Outlook to rest as well eventually.

Windows Mail was the default free email client of Windows for several years. The total number of users who use it is unclear, as Microsoft has never revealed usage numbers.

Have you tried the new Outlook for Windows? What is your take on this change? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Cassettes

The video downloader Cobalt just got a whole lot better

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

While streaming seems to gain more popularity by the day, some users prefer to download content at times or always. This offers several benefits, such as:

  • Access the content permanently, even if the video is deleted, modified, or blocked.
  • Enjoy the video without ads or any other unwanted content.
  • You do not need Internet to watch it.
  • Watch the video in your favorite local player.

There are plenty of services available on the Internet that let you download videos to the local system. You may also use standalone programs, Internet Download Manager is my favorite, if you prefer using a desktop program.

I reviewed the video downloader Cobalt in June. Cobalt is a free service that is easy to use and comes without any ads or unwanted content. The developers have added plenty of features to it since that last review.

Cobalt download videos
Main interface of the downloader

It now supports the following services at the time of writing: bilibili, blusky, dailymotion, facebook, instagram, look, ok, pinterest, reddit, rutube, snapchat, soundcloud, streamable, tiktok, tumbl, twitch, twitter (x), vine, vimeo, vk, and youtube.

Usage is still pretty straighforward: paste the URL of the video into the single form field on the Cobalt website and hit the check (>>) button afterwards. If things to well, you should get a download prompt right afterwards.

Tip: Cobalt collects anonymous traffic analytics “to get an approximate number of active cobalt users”. You can disable that under Settings > Privacy. There you also find an option to always tunnel files, which hides your IP and other information.

Cobalt Settings are extensive

The default video quality is set to 720p. You can open the settings to change that to anything between 8k+ and 144p.

For YouTube, you may also change the preferred codec from h264 to either av1 or vp9. There is also a beta option to enable hls for video & audio on YouTube.

Audio settings are also extensive. You may change the default audio format (mp3) to another (best, ogg, wav, or opus), the default audio bitrate from 128 kb/s to another (between 320 kb/s and 8 kb/s).

Again, there are some service specific settings available. For YouTube, you may set a preferred dub language. For TikTok, you may enable the downloading of original sound.

Filenames are set to be “pretty” by default. You may change that to classic, basic, or nerdy. There is also an option to disable the saving of file metadata, and to change the default saving method from download to ask, share, or copy.

Last but not least, you may enable custom instances, which need to be provided. This should give the service some breathing room when a site blocks the main download servers.

Closing Words

Cobalt is an easy to use downloader for video and audio content from more than a dozen of the most popular websites on today’s Internet. It is great for users who download videos occasionally, or have troubles downloading a specific video using another service or tool.

All in all, a great service that is well worth a bookmark.

Amazon Prime Video Recaps

Amazon uses AI to improve TV show recaps on Prime Video

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I dislike recaps. Not as much as precaps, which give you a summary of what you are about to see, but still. Whenever they come up, I immediately activate the skip button to get past them.

Amazon is now experimenting with AI to improve recaps for viewers on Amazon Prime Video. The feature, which has launched for Prime Video customers in the United States, is part of the service’s X-Ray feature.

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Amazon calls the feature X-Ray Recaps; it is designed specifically to help customers who forgot where they left off. While that may not happen when you binge-watch a TV show or season, it may happen when you pause watching a show for weeks or months.

Amazon says:

Prime Video will deliver summaries of memorable moments and important plot points so our customers can quickly jump back into what they were watching or rediscover why they fell in love with a series in the first place.”

I have no idea how well this works. I do not use Prime Video, but it would be interesting to know if this works better than the regular recaps that you get.

Amazon says that recaps are only available for select MGM Studios Original series at the time.

To use the feature, select the recap icon on the TV shows starting page. There you get options to get a recap of the current episode, current season, or previous season.

The ability to get full season recaps could be helpful. The option to get a recap up to the minute you watched the show seems to be missing though.

In the future, Amazon could very well link these recaps to a customer’s viewing habits or purchases. Guesswork.

You may check out Amazon’s post on its About Amazon website for images and additional information on the feature.

What is your take on this new feature? Would you use it or ignore it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows Updates Viewer

Windows Update Viewer: little helper app for Windows admins

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Windows Update Viewer is an open source application for Windows that serves a number of purposes all around updates in Windows.

The application is free to use and available as a portable version and as an installer. It displays all installed updates on the Windows system when you run it.

Note that it is a .NET application, which means that you need .NET 8 installed on the system to run it.

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How to disable driver updates via Windows Update

Each update is listed with its ID, date and time of installation, result and title. You may sort the listing by clicking on a header.

When you select an update, you get a wealth of information:

  • ID, date and time of installation, title, and result as before.
  • The update description.
  • Operation.
  • Status.
  • Result code.
  • Support URL.
  • Update ID.
  • Windows Event Log details.

The one that stands out is the information that it pulls from the event log. The updates history that Windows itself provides does not provide the information in a single place. You have to open the Event Viewer to look them up.

Here, you get all the information in one place. Find out why an update refused to install on the Windows device by looking at the provided logs.

The link to the support URL is also handy, as you can follow it to check out what the update is all about or if it has any known issues.

Other than that, Windows Update Viewer includes a filter list to hide certain entries. Defender updates are not shown by default. You can change that, or add any other term to the filter list to block it from appearing in the table.

Closing Words

Windows Update Viewer is one of those handy free apps that make the life of administrators easier. It is great for quickly looking up information about updates, especially those that failed to install.

Do you use software to manage updates on Windows machines? Feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion below.