Item Locator Item Locator much cheaper to buy the item that is broken (we  can tell you where) and have us come and install it.  A service contract is a different thing. That is the  sort of thing we do. But it isn’t really appropriate  for the computer equipment used in a home. If  asked if you want an extended warranty, just say  no. 2. Shopping for an item, but you want to see it in the flesh. This is the same as above, really, just with  one extra stage. First, go to a store of the  relevant type and look for the item you  want. Repeat for as many stores as needed, or until your legs fall off. Note the prices in each  shop. And note the model numbers. Then, go to  Amazon, etc as outlined above. 3. Finding information Here, Google is your friend. At the top of our  internet search page is a Google search box. Just  type in what you are looking for and hit the search  button. You will discover from experience that is  isn’t always obvious what word or phrase to enter  to get the results you want. Usually a short phrase  works best. The items at the top and the right hand side of the  resulting search list are ‘sponsored’. They have paid Google to put them at the top of the list.  Sometimes, they do turn out to be exactly what you are looking for, but a lot of them are just shopping  comparison sites. As an experiment, we just typed  ‘world war’, and in the paid-for links, the first was  to a clothes shopping site! If you want information of a scientific or technical  nature, then Wikipedia should be your first port of  call. Wikipedia is especially good if you want  information on technical standards, but it’s very  good on most other things. As a general rule, the  less technical the thing you’re looking for, the less  likely Wikipedia is to be helpful, because you will be  offered opinion dressed as fact. If you are stumped, and simply can’t find what you  are looking for, then send us an email (link is  below) and we’ll see if we can solve the problem.  It’s out there. Somewhere....  Set our internet search page as your home  page and you will then have 99% of your needs  covered right there on the one page. 1. If you are shopping for an item you already have or know all about. This is easy. Just go to Amazon and see  if they have it. Seriously. It will almost  always be the cheapest option, and  there’s certainly no more reliable brand.  If there’s no joy, try Play.com. We have banners  for both of these sites above and on our internet search page. Next, widen your search to the  High Street retailers. But beware: if a High  Street retailer has an item, and Amazon doesn’t,  then it’s probably one of two things. It’s either  obsolete, so you shouldn’t be buying it, or it’s  their ‘own brand’ version of something, which  will be scaled back in some way but the price  won’t be. So you won’t want to buy it. For particular niches, like watches, for example,  we use Watchshop.com, for which there is a  banner on the search page. We bought a watch  from them and liked the service, so we put them  there. Note: When buying stuff from the major  electrical / computer retailers, make sure that  the item is exactly what you want. In the case of laptop computers, for example, you may well  see the same model number for a computer in  the websites of different shops, but not be  aware that there may be several different  versions. The big boys often have ‘stripped  down’ versions specially made, and offer these  at what seems like a bargain price, so look very  closely at the specifications to make sure you  are comparing like with like on the prices, and  make sure that it has everything you need. But  really - and we can’t emphasise this enough -  you should NEVER buy anything from them.  There is simply no good reason to do so, and lots  of reasons not to! The reason is that the cost of computers is  always going down. You are covered for the first year in any case, by which time the items in  your machine will be cheaper. So it would be   As we said on the front page, it can be remarkably difficult to find things on the internet at times. If you are looking for everyday items then it’s usually easy. But other things can be hard. Over the years we’ve adopted a strategy which we hope will be of help to you. It’s based on what it is that you are looking for, and it goes like this. HCR NEVER, EVER, EVER buy an extended warranty from these people - or anyone else - for computer equipment. They will try to make you do it, because it could be as much as several hundred pounds profit to them. They are an utter - and expensive - waste of time. Another bit of free advice while we’re at it: NEVER buy USB thumb drives from High Street supermarkets or Major Electrical Retailers. Why? They charge more than twice what they should! Buy them from our link above.