The publication was announced at the
COMDEX trade show in November 1982, and first appeared on newsstands in March 1983. The magazine was founded by
David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard, and its first editor was
Andrew Fluegelman.
PC Worlds magazine and web site have won a number of awards from Folio, the American Society of Business Publication Editors, MIN, the Western Publications Association, and other organizations; it is also one of the few technology magazines to have been a finalist for a
National Magazine Award. Many well known technology writers have contributed to
PC World, including Steve Bass,
Daniel Tynan, Christina Wood,
John C. Dvorak,
Stephen Manes, Lincoln Spector,
Stewart Alsop, David Coursey, James A. Martin, and others. Editorial leadership has included Harry Miller, Richard Landry, Eric Knorr, Karl Koessel, Phil Lemmons, Cathryn Baskin, Kevin McKean, and Harry McCracken. In February 1999,
PC Worlds number of paid subscriptions reached a record of 1,000,453. At the time, it was the first and only computing magazine with a monthly release schedule to hit that mark. In April 2005, the show
Digital Duo was slightly
rebranded and relaunched as ''
PC World's Digital Duo, and ran for an additional 26 episodes. As of 2006, PC World''s audited rate base of 750,000 made it the largest circulation computing magazine in the world. On July 10, 2013, owner IDG announced that the magazine would cease its thirty-year print run. The issue of August 2013 was the last printed of the magazine
PC World, future issues would be digital only. In December 2024, PCWorld expanded its coverage of personal tech by forming a more formal bond between PCWorld and sister site TechHive, which had been covering smart home and video streaming tech since 2017. In March 2025, PCWorld's parent company, Foundry, was acquired from IDG/Blackstone by
Regent LP. ==Countries==