PCWorld Registration Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ is about PCWorld site registration and registration changes. Please check through it for answers to your questions. If you have a question not covered here, please send an e-mail message to PCWorld.com Customer Service at webmaster@pcworld.com.
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How do I complete the PCWorld registration form?- How do I begin?
- What is a User Name?
- How do I choose my password?
- How do I complete the rest of the form?
- What happens when I click Submit?
- Why did I get an "E-mail already in use" message?
- Why did I get a "User name already in use" message?
- Why was I returned to the form after clicking Submit?
- How do I sign in?
- What if I get an "Invalid E-mail Address or Password" message?
- What if I forget my password?
- How do I change my password?
- How do I change my e-mail address?
- How do I make other changes to My Profile?
- How do I use the My Newsletters tab?
- What are Member Benefits?
How do I complete the registration form?
Click the "Join Us" link at the top of PCWorld.com pages. A blank registration form will be displayed to you. Fields marked with asterisks (*) are required information. They must be completed in order to register. (We hope you'll complete the optional fields, too!)
The User Name is the way you'll be identified on any forum posts, user reviews, or article comments you make. Since this will show on all your posts, choose a name that conceals or reveals your identity as much as you feel comfortable doing. Each User Name is unique in the PCWorld community, so if you choose a User Name that another PCWorld member already has, when you click Submit you'll be returned to the form and see a message in red letters that says "User name already in use." Try entering a different User Name for yourself in that field.
Note: Your User Name cannot be changed. You can change your e-mail address, password, and other profile information. For security reasons, though, and to maintain the continuity of your identify for all posts you make, your User Name remains constant.
Your password must be composed of at least six characters which can be only letters and/or numbers. (No symbols or other characters are permitted.) Your password is case sensitive, so if you decide to capitalize any letters, you must always capitalize them when you sign in, too. Enter exactly the same password again in the Confirm Password field.
Country: Select your country of residence from the pulldown menu.
ZIP: If you're a U.S. resident, enter your five-digit ZIP Code. If you aren't a U.S. resident, simply enter the word none. (We welcome our international PCWorld members. Since we're based in San Francisco, the great majority of our audience is in the United States; that's the reason for the ZIP field.)
How do I complete the rest of the form?
We hope you'll choose to complete the optional fields on the form:
Company: Please enter the name of your company in this field. If this doesn't apply to you, leave the field blank.
The Address radio buttons: If you're registering using a work address, leave the Work radio button checked. If you're using some other address, click the Home radio button.
Two fields are provided for Street. You can enter your street address in the first field and leave the second field blank; or--if you're entering a company address--you can enter your company name in the first field and the street address in the second.
City: The city in which you live.
State: If you live outside the United States, leave this selection as N/A. If you're a U.S. resident, please select the state in which you live.
The First Name and Last Name fields are self-explanatory.
Job Function: Please select from the drop-down menu the function that best matches yours. If your job function doesn't match any on the list, please select "Other." If "Job Function" doesn't apply to you, please select "Other."
Title: Please select from the drop-down menu the title that best matches yours. If your title doesn't match any on the list, please select "Other." If "Title" doesn't apply to you, please select "Other."
Industry: Please select from the pulldown menu the industry that best matches yours. If your industry doesn't match any on the list, please select "Other." If "Industry" doesn't apply to you, please select "Other."
Company Size: Please select from the pulldown menu the company size that best matches yours. If "Company Size" doesn't apply to you, please select "Less than 50."
Note that we provide links to both our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages just above the Submit button.
What happens when I click Submit?
When you have finished the registration form, click the Submit button at the bottom. When the required fields are completed correctly, a confirmation page will be displayed.
Note: At this point, your registration is not yet activated. For security reasons, we need confirmation that you really did submit the registration yourself, so we'll send you a confirmation e-mail message.
The confirmation page includes a newsletters subscription form. No subscription is required; we simply offer that to you as an opportunity to select some of PCWorld's fine newsletters. We hope you'll choose to do so.
Very soon after you click the Submit button we'll send a verification message to your e-mail address. When you receive it, just click the link in that message to activate your registration. Clicking the link will take you directly to the PCWorld.com sign-in page.
If you use filtering measures, or your ISP does, you may need to "whitelist" our mail server address to insure that you receive your verification message. The address to whitelist is pcworld@lm.pcworld.com.
Note: The verification link can be used only once. To sign in on later visits to PCWorld.com, click the Sign In link at the top of PCWorld.com pages.
What if I have a problem submitting the form?
Why did I get an "E-mail already in use" message?
If you already have a PCWorld newsletter subscription under the same address you're using to register, after you complete and submit the registration form, you'll be returned to the form with a message in red letters: "E-mail already in use." To continue, just click the "Click to update your account" link to tell our system you do want to register also under that address.
If you have already registered on PCWorld.com using the same e-mail address, you'll be returned to the form with only the "E-mail already in use" message and no update link. In that case, since you're already registered, just return to the home page and click the Sign In link. If you're trying to change something on your registration, please see How do I change my registration?
Why did I get a "User name already in use" message?
Each User Name is unique in the PCWorld community, so if you choose a User Name that another PCWorld member already has, when you click Submit you'll be returned to the form with a message in red letters that says "User name already in use." Try entering a different User Name for yourself in that field and click Submit again.
Why was I returned to the form after clicking Submit?
If you clicked the Submit button and were returned to the form but no error message was displayed, that probably means one of the required fields was left blank. The field you need to complete will be marked with a red asterisk (*). Complete that field and click Submit again.
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What about signing in?
The first time you sign in will be when you click the link in your e-mail verification message. Clicking that link takes you directly to the sign-in form. Remember, that link can be used only that one time. Thereafter, sign in by clicking the "Sign In" link at the top of PCWorld.com pages. When you click that link, the sign-in form will be displayed to you. Enter your e-mail address in the E-mail address field. This must be the exact e-mail address you used when you registered. Enter your password in the Password field. You must enter it exactly as you did when you registered, including capitalizing any letters. Click the Sign In button. When you sign in successfully you'll be returned to the PCWorld.com page you were visiting. Your e-mail address will be displayed at the top of the window to show you're signed in, and the Sign In link will be changed to My Account.
What if I get an "Invalid E-mail Address or Password" message?
The most likely reason is that either your e-mail address or password was entered incorrectly. Enter them again exactly as they were on your registration form and then click the Sign In button.
If the error message is displayed again, check to be sure you're using exactly the same e-mail address you used when registering. If you are, then it's possible you have forgotten your password. See "What if I forget my password?" below.
If you're signing in for the first time, you may wish to check a couple of other possibilities: JavaScript is used extensively on PCWorld.com, including for the sign-in process. If you have JavaScript disabled in your browser settings, it's necessary to change your setting to enable JavaScript. Also, cookies are essential to the sign-in process. If you have cookies blocked, it's necessary to allow the placement of cookies in order to sign in.
Just click the Sign In link. Then on the sign-in form click the "Forgot your password? link. On the form which is displayed, enter the exact e-mail address you used to register. Then enter a new password, and the same new password in the Confirm field. A verification message will be sent to your e-mail address. When you receive that message, click the link in it to activate your new password.
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How do I change my registration information?
Click the Sign In link. Then on the sign-in form click the "Forgot your password? link. On the form which is displayed, enter the exact e-mail address you used to register. Then enter a new password, and enter the same new password in the Confirm field. A verification message will be sent to your e-mail address. When you receive that message, click the link in it to activate your new password.
How do I change my e-mail address?
Sign in by clicking the Sign In link at the top of PCWorld.com pages. Then click the My Account link at the top of the page. The My Profile page will be displayed to you. Change your e-mail address by clearing the E-mail address field and entering your new one. Then click the Submit button. After you change your e-mail address, that change must be verified. We'll send a message to your new e-mail address. When you receive it, click the link in the message to activate your address change. (Other changes on the My Profile page need no verification.)
Your user name cannot be changed, for reasons of security and continuity of identity. If you believe there's an urgent reason to change your user name, please send an e-mail message to webmaster@pcworld.com describing the problem. At your request we'll remove your registration from the system so you can start from the beginning, including choosing a different user name.
If you use filtering measures, or if your ISP does, you may need to "whitelist" our verification mail server address to insure that you receive your verification message at your new address. The address to whitelist is pcworld@lm.pcworld.com.
Newsletters subscriptions: If you have a PCWorld newsletters subscription under the same address, changing the e-mail address on your registration will automatically change the e-mail address on the newsletters subscription when you verify the change.
How do I make other changes to My Profile?
You can change the other items on your profile simply by making the changes and clicking the Submit button. No verification of those other changes is required.
How do I use the My Newsletters tab?
If you have PCWorld newsletter subscriptions under the same e-mail address you used for registration, you can make changes to those subscriptions by clicking the My Newsletters tab. On that page you can add or remove newsletters from your subscription list, and change your subscription format from HTML to text or vice versa. (Again, if you change the address on your registration, the address on the newsletter subscriptions will also be changed when you verify.)
You can also use the usual method of changing a newsletter subscription. That link, which we include at the bottom of every PCWorld newsletter, is http://www.pcworld.com/newsletters/services
The center tab on the My Accounts page will take you to your Member Benefits. Check this page from time to time to review special offers and other benefits available to you as a PCWorld Registered Member.
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