Question:
The PCWorld Magazine has Find numbers in it, how do I use those numbers?
Short Answer:
To use the PCWorld find numbers, just enter find.pcworld.com/xxxxx in your web browser, replace the "xxxxx" with the 5 digit Find number like this: find.pcworld.com/54108.
Long Answer:
The former "Enter find.pcworld.com number" link at the top of PCWorld.com pages was for using the five digit numbers from Find URLs published in various PCWorld magazine articles. We found that it tended to serve more often as a source of confusion for users than as an aid, so that link was discontinued quite some time ago in our continuing work to improve PCWorld.com and make it clearer and easier to use.
There was previously an unlinked page at find.pcworld.com which included a blank field for the 5 digit code, and which some readers had bookmarked. That page was primarily an error page. It wasn't designed for general use and was disabled some time ago.
Find URLs published in PCWorld magazine articles are used just the way you use any other URL (Web address). Type into your browser address field (the field at the very top of your browser window) the entire URL as it appears in blue ink in the PCWorld magazine article, beginning with "find" and ending with the five digit number; e.g., find.pcworld.com/xxxxx (the X's here represent the five digit number). Then click your browser's "go" button to go to that page.
You can think of the find.pcworld.com/xxxxx URL as a form of "URL Shortening" much like what TinyURL.com or bit.ly does.
Another way to use Find URLs if you're already on PCWorld.com is to enter just the five digit number in the Search field in the red PCWorld logo bar.
(Some people try to use Find URLs as search objects, by entering them in Google or some other search engine. Find URLs are Web addresses, not search objects, so they don't work in search engines.)
Find URLs often take you to sites other than PCWorld.com. They're intended as a quick way for PCWorld article writers to send you to any page or site they mention.
It should be noted that if you use www.find.pcworld.com/xxxxx instead of find.pcworld.com/xxxxx, it will still work as long as the 5 digit number is a correct (i.e. in use) Find number. The www. part is not needed, however, so it's best to not add that.
If you enter an incorrect Find number, you should get an "error" page like this:
If you get such a page, there is a spot for you to enter in a Find number and if it is a correct Find number, then it should take you to the appropriate webpage.
