Talking Caller ID (16-bit version) requires Windows 3.1 or higher, an 8 bit sound card or better, speakers or headphones, microphone and a Caller ID capable modem or optional Caller ID Plug as discussed above and Caller ID service from your local phone company. Also, the Voice Mail Alert feature requires the optional Caller ID Plug and Visual Message Indicator service from your local phone company.
Talking Caller ID (Version 5 and higher) when you are not using the answering machine features, requires Windows 95/98/ME/XP/NT/2000 with a suggested 100 MHz clock speed or higher in addition to the peripherals mentioned above. It will work with a slower clock speed, but the speech output may be delayed until after the second ring. It also requires that the Microsoft Agent core components, English speech engine and at least one character be installed on your computer. Click here to go the download page for these items. Windows ME and 2000 come preinstalled with all the required Microsoft Agent components.
To use the answering machine features of Talking Caller ID, you must have a good quality voice modem that is 100% TAPI compliant and Windows 95 OSR2 or later/98/ME/XP/2000. Your voice modem and modem driver must fully support TAPI for the operating system you are using.
Windows NT 4.0 does not include voice modem support. Voice support was added to Windows 95/98 beginning with the Windows 95 OSR2 release. For more information click Voice Modem Support of Unimodem Features. For more information about the differences between Windows 95/98 and Windows 2000 and later versions of the operating system, see Voice Modem Wave Devices. For more information about sample voice INF files, see Platform-Specific Considerations for Voice Support. If you want to try to modify your INF file for your voice modem to add voice support, click Adding Voice Support. For an overview of modem driver files, click Overview of Modem INF Files.
Talking Caller ID is shareware. You can use the shareware version for 21 days, after which you must register it or delete it from your computer. The registration fee is $35.00 for the 16-bit version and $39.95 for the 32-bit versions.. Talking Caller ID 32-bit version includes the Microsoft Agent technology with a much nicer sounding speech engine with animated characters.
The unregistered version has a startup nag screen on which you must click 'I Agree' each time the program is started. The unregistered version also shuts down after receiving three phone calls in a single session. You must then restart the program manually to continue using it. When you register the software, you will no longer see the startup nag screen and there will no limit to the number of calls you can receive. You will also then be able to put the program in your startup group so it will load automatically each time you boot up your computer.