PC World was probably the most successful mainstream PC magazine in the U.S. PC Magazine was another but I don’t think it lasted as long. By 2011 things were going downhill though as the page count was getting pretty light, especially when compared to its peak. Also, there was a lot of non-PC coverage with two out of the three features in this issue being about phones and TVs. The November 2011 issue includes:

Features

• First Look at Windows 8 – A preview of Windows 8, what would turn out to be one of Microsoft’s least popular Windows versions.

• Top TVs of 2011 – Coming in at the top of this list is the 46-inch Samsung UN46D8000 for $1650.

• Have You Seen This Lost Phone? – A guide to protecting your phone and the information on it from loss and theft.

Community

• Techblog – A look at the changes in Windows 8.

• PCW Forum – Advice on improving indoor cell phone reception, dealing with PC cable clutter, cleaning HDTV screens and more.

Departments

• Mobile Broadband Drought – A look at how mobile data consumption is increasing faster than capacity.

• GeekTech – Some resources for getting started with Arduino.

• Staff Picks – A brief look at favorite new products of PC World staff members including the Toshiba Protege Z830, the Canon PowerShot S100, and more.

• Cloud Music – An overview of ways to put your music in the cloud, including Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud, Google Music Box, and more.

• Skeptical Shopper – On whether or not discontinued tech can be a good deal.

• On Your Side – Problems with battery life in a HP Pavilion DM-4 notebook PC.

• Hacktivism – The collateral damage caused by online hacktivists.

• Privacy Watch – A guide to protecting yourself from misbehaving cookies.

Lab Tested

• NAS Enclosures – A comparison of five NAS enclosures including the Synology Diskstation DS211+, QNAP TurboNAS TS-259 Pro+, D-Link Sharecenter DNS-325-110, Patriot Javelin S4 Media Server, and Synology Diskstation DS411SLIM.

• Acer Iconia Tab A100 – A 7-inch Android tablet from Acer featuring Android 3.2, a 1-GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU, and 1 GB of memory for $350 (16GB version).

• Top 5 Inkjet Printers – At the top of this list is the Epson B-510DN for $599.

• Roku 2 XS – A $100 box for video streaming with a microSD slot for downloadable games.

• Top 10 Desktop PCs – At the top of the “Mainstream Desktop PCs” list is the Origin Genesis Z68 featuring a 4.3 GHz Core i5-2500K, 16GB RAM, 1.2TB storage, and nVidia GeForce GTX 560Ti (x2) for $3484.

• NTI Media Maker 9 – Create DVDs, Blu-ray video and more. It gets a pretty average review here.

• Top 10 Laptops – At the top of the “All-Purpose Laptops” list is the Dell XPS 15z for $1500 featuring a 2.7GHz Core i7-2620M, 15.6-inch widescreen, and 750GB hard drive.

Gaming

• The Best Rigs – A look at pre-built gaming PCs including the Micro Express MicoFlex 23B (overclocked i5-2500K, AMD Radeon HD 6870), V3 Move 3DS (heavily overclocked i3-540, nVida 460GTX), Maingear Vybe Super Stock (heavily overclocked Core i5-2500K, nVidia GeForce GTX 570), Origin Genesis (heavily overclocked Core i7-2600K, nVidia GeForce GTX 580 x 3), and Alienware Aurora (Core i7-2600, AMD Radeon HD 6950 x 2).

• Top Pc Games – A list of the top 20 best PC games including Alien Swarm, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Bejeweled 3, Borderlands, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, Minecraft, Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Mass Effect 2, Red Faction: Guerilla, Rift, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Torchlight, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, World of Tanks, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

• Top Console Games – A list of the top 20 best console games including Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (PS3, Xbox 360), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), BioShock 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), Dance Central (Xbox 360), Dead Space 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii), God of War III (PS3), Heavy Rain (PS3), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360), Halo: Reach (Xbox 360), L.A. Noir (PS3, Xbox 360), LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3), Mario Kart Wii (Wii), MLB 11: The Show (PS3), Mass Effect 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), Portal 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), Rock Band 3 (PS3, Xbox 360), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii), and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3).

Here’s How

• Upgrade Your RAM – It was about this time that most users had upgraded to a 64-bit OS and could therefore exceed 4 GB of RAM. The common RAM type was DDR3 and this guides you in choosing the right RAM and shows you how to upgrade both laptops and desktops.

• Answer Line – How to close the lid of your laptop when connected to an external monitor without it going to sleep, how to determine the file type of old files, making your laptop run quieter, and more.

• Hassle-Free PC – A guide to creating keyboard shortcuts for folders.

…and more!

PC World was still going strong in the early 2000s with issues weighing in at well over 200 pages. This issue from November 2004 is about 236 pages and includes:

Shopping Secrets

• Best Places to Buy – Top online sites include CDW, Dell, Apple, Compu USA, Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sony Style among others. The best stores include the Apple Store, Best Buy, CompUSA, Staples and Circuit City.

Features

• The Ultimate Wireless Guide – A look at the best gear for setting up a wireless network plus tips on adding printers, hard drives, and more to your network. This article looks at wifi equipment from Netgear, Linksys, Buffalo, D-Link, and Belkin.

• Biography of a Worm – A detailed look at the Sasser worm.

• Find Files Fast – A comparison of file search utilities including DtSearch Desktop With Spider, Lookout Software Lookout, Lycos HotBot Desktop, Blinkx, Caelo Software NEO Pro, Stata Labs Bloomba Professional, and others.

Top 100

• Spotlight: Monitors – The top 17-inch widescreen LCD monitor this month is the Sharp LL-M17W1 for $679. The top 23 to 24-inch widescreen LCD monitor is the Samsung SyncMaster 243T for $2240.

• Top 15 Desktop PCs – The top power system this month is the Dell Dimension 8400 featuring a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4, 1 GB of DDR2-533 RAM, and a 256MB ATI Radeon X800 XT graphics card for $2999. The top value system is the Dell Dimension 4700 featuring a 3 GHz Pentium 4 and 512 MB of DDR2-400 for $1299.

• Top 15 Notebook PCs – The top desktop replacement this month is the HP Compaq Business Notebook Nc6000 featuring a 1.6 GHz Pentium M and 512MB RAM for $1933. The top all-purpose notebook is the IBM ThinkPad R51 featuring a 1.5 GHz Pentium M and 512MB of RAM for $1699.

• Top 10 Hard Drives – The top external portable drive this month is the Sony Giga Vault (40 GB, 5400 RPM, USB 2.0, 2 MB cache). The best external desktop drive is the Maxtor OneTouch 300GB.

• Top 10 Digital Cameras – Topping the digital camera list this month is the 3.2 megapixel Canon PowerShot A75.

Departments

• Up Front – How the software patching process helps hackers.

• Letters – Letters from readers regarding cell phone plans, spyware, cellular data vs. wifi, keyboard shortcuts, and more.

• Plugged In – Delays on new Intel chips, cell phones with wifi, TiVo on the go, budget 3D graphics, and more.

• Consumer Watch – Using your broadband connection to make phone calls.

• Home Office – Using pictures and videos from the web in your presentations.

• Full Disclosure – A look at a disturbing new trend…adware with your new PC.

News & Trends

• Is XP’s Service Pack 2 Safe? – A look at the security updates of Windows XP SP2.

• AMD Sempron Is No Athlon XP – The 32-bit Sempron was basically an Athlon XP with half the cache. To confuse matters, there was also a 64-bit Sempron based on the Athlon 64.

• The Presidential Candidates’ Tech Views – A look at the stances of George W. Bush and John Kerry on issues such as the Patriot Act, privacy, and spyware.

• Portable Media Centers Debut – Microsoft’s portable video player.

New Products

• Digital Music Players – A look at three new media players and how they compare to the iPod. Players looked at here include the Creative Zen Touch, Rave-MP AMP 128, and Rio Carbon.

• Productivity Software – A look at Microsoft Works 8.

• Network Security Camera – The D-Link Securicam Network DCS-5300G Internet Security Camera.

• Image Editing Software – A look at Paint Shop Pro Studio. A much earlier version of Paint Shop Pro was my go-to image software for a long time.

• PDA – A look at the Sidekick II offered by T-Mobile.

• Notebook – The HP Dv1000 featuring a 1.5 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB of RAM, and 80 GB hard drive for $1449.

Next Gear

• Rip Your Records – A guide to digitizing your vinyl.

• Phone Accessories – A look at various new phone accessories including a speakerphone car kit, MP3 add-on, digital pen, and more.

• Gadget Freak – Movie downloads from Starz, rent DVDs from Netflix, the new Fragbook from Falcon Northwest, and more.

Here’s How

• Office Tips – Getting rid of the drawing canvas in Word 2002, reordering the My Places bar, and more.

• Windows Tips – Scrolling in Excel via the keyboard and other mouse wheel tips.

• Internet Tips – Free book, music, and movie downloads.

• Hardware Tips – Upgrading to a PCI Express graphics card.

• Answer Line – Reducing your startup apps, cleaning up messy uninstalls, taking a snapshot of your registry, and more.

…and more!