Got a Gadget Problem? Check out FixYa

I (jokingly) hesitate a little to write about FixYa, as it muscles into the turf of stuff I write about here at Yahoo! Tech. But I love you readers so much that I'm going to write about it anyway, because it just might save you some day.

FixYa is a community-based tech support system for all manner of electronic devices. You simply find your product in the database (which is exhaustive: 1,245 Dell desktops are listed), then click "Post a new problem." After explaining your issue, with luck, someone will come along with a solution. And of course, there's a huge database of previously asked questions which you can search through.

Most problems seem to have some answer associated with them, though since the service is so new, not all of them do, and not all of them are useful. (Readers get to rate the solutions on the site: The most recent "top expert" has more than half of his solutions rated as "irrelevant.")

After rummaging around on the site, I found that the overall quality of answers was actually quite good, with several deeply technical, well thought-out solutions to specific complaints. Sure, there's plenty of chaff (some are little more than links to other websites, and some of the content has been imported by Usenet, which is filled with a blend of useful and useless commentary), but still, it's a good start and worth checking out. It's like Yahoo! Answers, but exclusively for tech.

One of FixYa's most interesting features is that you can get live support from experts that you've come to trust. A chat system is built right into the FixYa website. Just click the "Let one of our Experts Solve your Problem" button in the upper right corner and give it a whirl.

Nifty little website. I'd definitely recommend giving FixYa a spin for any technology problem. And hey, if they can't help you, you can still always email me.