_{Cover of the March 1993 issue of PC World}

PC World was probably the dominant PC specific magazine in 1993 and 1993 was also the year I bought my first "PC", replacing my Commodore 64. The March 1993 issue of PC World includes:

Cover Story

486DX2-66s: Fastest PCs in the Universe - In 1993, a 486DX2-66 based PC was the fastest you could buy. Late in the year the Pentium would come along basically doubling the speed but for a little while, the DX2-66 was king. This article looks at 24 different systems based on this CPU. The Gateway 2000 DX2-66V is number 2 on the "Best Buy" list here and this is the same model I bought a few months later.

Consumer Alert
- Is Your New Software Secondhand? - Software returned to stores may not have only been used, but also contain a virus.
Hard Disks
- Tips to Organize Your Hard Disk - Tips to make finding files easier, making backups, and more.
_{Table of Contents from the March 1993 issue of PC World}

Personal Finance
- Deep in the Art of Taxes - A look at seven tax software packages including AM-Tax, Andrew Toblas' TaxCut, EasyTax, Personal Tax Edge, Tax Solver, TaxPerfect, and TurboTax.
Printers
- Dot Matrix Lives? - A guide to 24-pin dot matrix printers. This looks at 32 of them.
Reference
- Getting There With Software Maps - Before GPS and Google Maps or even MapQuest there were standalone software applications for mapping. Some of the ones looked at here include Street Wizard, Automap for Windows, Zagat-Axxis CityGuide, PC Globe, Street Atlas USA, Travel Partner, Personal Travel Guide, City Streets, Key Map, Local Expert, Travel Companion, U.S. Atlas With Automap, and World Atlas.
Top of the News
- DOS 6: More Utility, More Power - DOS 6 was the last major new standalone version of DOS finishing up with, I believe, DOS 6.22. DOS 7 would be included with Windows 95.
- PC Tools Comes to Windows - A Windows version of an originally DOS only application for protecting and recovering data, monitoring and optimizing system performance, automating tasks, and more.
- A Trio of ASTs Pushes the Limits - Again - Three new 486 based computers from AST including the Premmia 4/66d, 4/33, and 4/33s.
- A Complete Windows Communicator - A look at the terminal program HyperAccess for Windows 1.0.
- PC Prices Are Great, but Choices Dwindle - The five top PC makers were AST, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, and IBM though there were tons of others. Choices were already dwindling in 1993 but there's tons fewer today.
- Microsoft Profit 1.0 - An accounting package from Microsoft.
_{Table of Contents from the March 1993 issue of PC World (continued)}

New Products
- Wyse Technology Decision PCs - A series of 486 based network ready PCs from Wyse.
- doubleRES IV printer board - A $599 upgrade to make HP Series II and III laser printers print faster.
- SuperMac VideoSpigot - A low cost video capture board ($499).
- DECLaser 1152 printer - A low cost PastScript laser printer for $1299.
- Logitech AudioMan - A sound card, microphone, and speaker combo for Windows that attaches to the parallel port.
- Outside In for Windows 2.0 - A file viewer that can view various files and inside zip files.
- Stacker 3.0, SuperStor Pro - Disk compression software. This functionality is included in Windows now and probably nobody uses it anyway since hard drives are so large now. However, at the time, 340MB was considered luxurious.
- QmodemPro - Terminal software for Windows that also includes offline mail reading capabilities.
- Quick Takes - A short look at other products including the CompuAdd 425C Color Notebook, Zeos 486 EISA Systems, BCC's 486SLC Notebook, and more.
Here's How
- Help Line - How to share external drives with multiple computers. Plus, a tip for making wallpaper more useful, and more.
- Communications -
- Windows - A workaround for changing the default font in Windows Write, how to change printer names, managing sound files, and more.

PC World (March 1993)

Cover Story

Consumer Alert

Hard Disks

Personal Finance

Printers

Reference

Top of the News

New Products

Here's How

Departments