Envescent IT & Data Recovery

It was the most glitch-free encounter.

The hard drive with our media collection and entire photo library died completely during the holidays. It was my fault for not backing everything up to another drive but I had no idea how complicated the recovery process for a striped raid would be. The geek squad quoted a repair cost roughly equal to the pricetag of a constitution class federation starship. I went straight to the top of the list of alternatives and that's where I met Alex. Just as professional and thorough as all the other reviews have said, Alex treated my data crisis like more than just another ticket waiting to be resolved. Dealing with a person face to face always wins over an out of state call center from a big box store and in Alex's case, he's as personable and reassuring as you'd want from any true professional. His prices were fair and the results were beyond satisfactory. I'd gladly recommend him for timely repair services, honest consultations, and just about any tech concerns you might have.

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Cleaned all the hardware at no time & replaced a part.

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The camera memory card was brand new, was being used for the first time during vacation travel. After taking several hundred shots on a single day, the card began to fail, and neither the camera nor computer could access anything on the card. As these were vacation photos, all were important enough to find someone to try to recover photo image files on the card. I found Alex via his website and sent him an email. He called me back almost immediately, and made an appointment for that day. We arranged for him to try to recover the files, and he called me that same evening to say that he could do so. He did the work the following day, and I picked up the damaged card and a new card with the recovered images that evening. The images on the card were important enough (to me) to be willing to pay for data recovery, and I felt that his charges were very fair. I was very pleased with his quick response and service and very happy with the result.

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Alex is an amazing resource, a computer life-saver, and an absolute professional. He made both our computer problems and the solutions he recommended understandable - and executed repairs in a very reasonable time frame. We have an HP desktop and Gateway laptop and both were progressively getting slower and slower and giving off strange messages. We also felt we were being conned by a repair service we had accessed on the web, that was scaring us with horror stories and trying to convince us to purchase their services. In two days Alex had run diagnostics, removed over 100 spyware and virus infections, repaired corrupted system files, patched and updated the operating systems, optimized system performance, installed security software, set up a back-up system, and more. The PCs are running like new now. Having a trustworthy PC doctor is just as important to us as having a trustworthy medical doctor - and we sleep better now that we have found Alex and Arlington Virginia Computer Repair.

Alex at AVCR was a consummate professional and very personable during the entire process. Each visit (drop-off and pick-up) resulted in a short and pleasurable wait in the waiting room because of the jazz music. My notebook computer was severely infected (anti-virus and firewall had failed) and performance was abysmal. Internet research led me to AVCR. Being in law enforcement for over 30 years, I did my due diligence and was not disappointed. Alex had my notebook ready in only 2 days - free of infection and at optimal function. Alex took the time to explain what had happened and what preventive measures to take in the future. Alex even cleaned the fans in the notebook and made the notebook look brand new. The fee was very reasonable. I also now have a cooling platform that my notebook sits on, per Alex's advice. A picture of Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) behind Alex's desk was icing on the cake. If I could give a 6-stars rating, I would. AVCR is the real deal. Thank you AVCR!

As a photographer, data management and recovery is an extremely important but unfortunate aspect of the business. I know absolutely nothing about the technical side of my computer, and as my business grows, I am becoming more and more concerned about protecting it. I had heard from several photographers that AVCR is the best, so I left them an extremely awkward voicemail explaining that I am clueless and could really use some - ok, a lot - of help. I didn't know what to expect. Would they laugh at my message and not bother calling me back? Maybe return my call but tell me they don't have time to teach a SAHM-turned-small-business-owner how to use her computer? None of the above. Alexander took my concerns seriously and returned my call with a plan of action, to not only get my computer on a rotating backup system but to also teach me all of the important components of it and ensure I knew exactly what I was doing. I felt immediately put at ease. Honestly, it wouldn't have mattered to me how much it cost, but I found his rates to be very competitive. First-time customers receive a 10% discount, making it $99/hour. He sat on the phone with me, at 7:30pm on a Monday, for 2 1/2 hours. While he worked on my computer remotely, he took the time to explain everything he was doing in careful detail, even followed up with an email containing written instructions I could refer back to, and also patiently answered what I'm sure were totally dumb questions that really didn't have much to do with what I was paying him for. No upsell, no telling me we'd have to schedule another call, no laughing at me for my ridiculousness. He was happy to talk to me about whatever popped into my brain and took all of my questions seriously. I really can not say enough good things about Alexander. He is now my go-to guy for anything and everything that plugs into the wall and I highly recommend him.

I had a year-old but refurbished HP Touchsmart Envy 23 all-in-one. It was out of warranty and was bluescreening and then failing to boot up. Rather than dealing with mailing it to HP or a mega repair shop, I decided to try Alexander, who has a business out of his home. He charged a $99 flat fee for the diagnostic. Alexander took it apart and tested each component and determined that the problem was a faulty motherboard. He suggested checking with my credit card company to see if an extended warranty came with the purchase, although unfortunately it turned out I was out of that period. He provided a quote of $486 parts and labor to order a new mother board and install it ($99 hour x 2.5 hours + ). He also advised me that the unit was poorly designed for heat-retention reasons and that it might fail again, so at that cost of repair it would be smarter to buy a new one. He provided me advice about what units would likely have a longer lifespan/warranty and a couple models that might suit my needs, one of which I did in fact go on to purchase. He also advised me that I could probably sell the malfunctioning computer on CraigsList or eBay to someone who wanted the parts, recouping some of my loss, and suggested that $200 would be a reasonable price, which I also went on to do. Alexander provided high-quality, personalized service and demonstrated that he is honest. I would definitely go to him again - though I hope I don't have to! -- and I would advise others to do so.

All went well. The only Hiccup was I did not pick it up at exactly the time promised. Thus, I had to wait 2 weeks) until after the 1st of the year to Pick it up, thus Santa could not deliver on time. I guess it was my fault, but I never expected they would close up shop for the entire Holidays. If you need a flexible schedule you might consider another provider.

They had good reviews and i would use them again. They do a good job. My computer crashed and they got the material.

My computer was running very slowly - took forever to boot up and the dreaded spinning beach-ball was on the screen forever when I called up a new app. I was ready to replace the computer. Alex diagnosed the problem - hardware was fine but lots of unnecessary stuff running and some corrupted files - cleaned up my Mac and now it is running like new. Initial $99 fee (10% discount for anew customer) was credited toward the final charge. Alex explained everything clearly and concisely at every step. Drop-off and pick-up were by appointment so no unnecessary waiting. Works out of a private home in South Arlington not far off Rte 50 and George Mason Drive. . Can be hard to find but he sends great directions. Very professional in every way. Alex is now my go-to guy for all computer repairs.

ORIGINAL USE (2011): My 6+ year old desktop died one day (without any sort of warning... or recent backup). We called Arlington Virginia Computer Repair (AVCR) and dropped off the CPU - he didn't overpromise, but said he'd do what he could... within a few days, Alexander called back and let us know our options, including giving us a cheaper option that we hadn't considered before. In the end, he not only recovered all the data (which had been my only goal), he also had the old PC running much faster than before. There are lots of similar customer reviews to this one (on YELP), and I just have to agree (and I think so will you), that the service is just so great that we wanted to be sure to give him and his staff kudos for the good work. We're going back with our laptop soon for preventative maintenance. Definitely give this business a call if you are looking for computer help in the greater Arlington area! UPDATE 10/21/13: We've since moved away from Arlington, but I contacted Alexander for help when my now-EIGHT year old (or maybe older) laptop started slowing down again like crazy... I contacted him on a Friday and we had a remote session set up for Monday afternoon. I prepaid for an hour of help, and he remoted in to my laptop that afternoon and freed up over 2gb, cleaned the PC registry, installed updates for antivirus, defragged the file system, ran routine maintenance and diagnosis. Going to continue using him as my go-to computer resource as long as I can!! (Oh, and YES, after writing the original review, we DID take my laptop in back in 2011 for a tune-up... so worth it... definitely got and getting my money's worth from this 'maintenance' - esp since for my purposes, I don't need a new laptop!)

I got the number of Arlington Virginia Computer Repair [AVCR] from Angie's List and called. Alex set me up with an appointment to bring the computer in. They were located less than 2 miles from me, I dropped off desktop and filled out the questionnaire designed to elicit information on my computer use and needs. After a couple of days of looking it over. Alex called me to come back in. He explained that the motherboard was fried, the technology was passe', and the hard drive damaged but that he believed that most of the data could be saved. We discussed my usage and needs and he recommended a type and brand for a replacement and explained why it would be best for me. I left to start on the purchase, AVCR doesn't sell computers. A few days later, I picked up the data disk and went home and installed it and updated replacement programs on the new computer. True to his estimate, they recovered most of my data. Alex also made some suggestions for program replacements and future protections and AVCR even took care of the recycling of the old system. All in all, considering the trauma of the initial loss, the inspection, advice and data recovery costs were a bargain. The replacement will meet my needs for years and was not very expensive.

Superb, professional service from start to finish. When there was a residual problem with my wifi capability, Alexander conducted a remote session and worked hard to resolve the issue. I highly recommend AVCR!

I had needed to get my laptop repaired for awhile, but didn't know where to go. After discovering the company online, I thought they looked pretty promising. Of course, I then checked Angie's List to see if they had been reviewed. Seeing no reviews, I checked a few other sites and decided to give them a try. Their office was closed for renovation when I called to make an appointment. So, I submitted information describing the problem via their website. Even though they were not open, I received a very nice email from the founder, Alexander Chamandy. Via email, I was able to set up a meeting with him for the following week. In advance of my appointment, I received directions how to get to his location. Sure, it first seemed a little odd to be given directions to a personal residence, but it's a home based business -- the business is in the basement of a residence. Upon arrival, I found the waiting area and restroom were clean, and there was soft music playing. Alexander came out of his office and immediately welcomed me with a smile on his face and his hand extended. Unlike some who work from home, his appearance and dress were just what you would expect from a professional. Within 10-15 minutes, I was on my way home. One week later, he sent me an email notifying me that there was a problem. Dell shipped the wrong LCD screen. He apologized for the delay. One week later, he sent me another email letting me know my laptop was ready. He even said I could pick it up that evening. Once again, he came out of his office at the time of my appointment. He smiled and extended his hand once again. We walked into his office and my laptop was on with the screen up. It was beautiful. Alexander then told me that Dell actually wanted to charge significantly more money for the second screen they shipped. He told them that they made the error and they should honor their price. Dell did just that. That impressed me. Before I paid the remainder of the bill do, he provided me with a info sheet of tips to help keep my laptop functioning well in the future. Definitely give him a shot. PS -- I must add that he responded to most emails within minutes of me sending them. PPS - The work was performed at the business address: 4827 8TH STREET SOUTH, Arlington, VA 22204