Have a broken computer or is the picture tube in your TV giving strange pictures? Is your manufacturer or the local service engineer making use of this opportunity to share the weight of your wallet? Before you give in, try Fixya. It's a community of consumers and engineers who are willing to help each other mend their consumer goods or use their products - free of charge!

Being a technology geek, quite often I receive calls from friends seeking solutions to problems related to their computer or electronic devices. I am sure they can now find solutions to their problems within hours on Fixya.

You can even find answers to your problem almost instantly from the knowledge base of previous problems and solutions.

The Question-and-Answer system on Fixya might look similar to Yahoo Answers or LinkedIn Answers but the advantage of using Fixya for consumer goods related problems is you are less likely to get deviated from the topic and more likely to find a solution to your problem from an expert in that particular field. BitWine is another such service but then it's pay-per-minute peer help community.

Other services provided by Fixya include Repair Service to find a repairman or an engineer nearest to you and a manufacturer directory to locate brand-specific products and user manuals.