Any software alternative to PhoneTray?

I've been using PhoneTray Free for many months now with great success (I do a lot of work from my home office, so my computer is on most of the time). But recently it's been acting up (as in 'not working'). I tried the suggestions from their tech support emails with no effect (if anyone's interested: it logs every incoming call *twice* – once with the correct Caller ID name and number and once with "N/A" – but doesn't pick up and 'zap" either one). I downloaded the demo version of their paid software but couldn't get that to work at all. And I'm still using the same computer and modem that worked successfully with PhoneTray Free for months.

So now I'm looking for alternatives.

Well, just minutes after posting that cry for help I solved my own problem: un-updated my modem's driver back to the previous version. Seems to be working now. I suspect an automatic driver update took place recently. Now I just have to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Another follow-up: The paid version of Phone Tray (Phone Tray Pro) will not install on your computer unless you allow it to "phone home". That's a big no-no in my book, so I'll keep my money and they can keep their spyware.

That does seem counter to the point of using a program which purports to assist privacy control. It tells me that TraySoft knows very well it faces a shrinking user base. It can't plug the drain so it irrigates the puddle to lead users where it wants.

The thing is, their free version works splendidly and never tries to communicate with the mother ship. They've taken it off their web site now but it's readily available on the torrent sites (version 1.39 was the last one, I believe). If a cracked version of the "pro" version appears via torrent I may give it a go. But isn't it annoying when you *try* to buy software legally and the company's policies force you to get a cracked copy instead <cough> Adobe <cough>?

Yep, v1.39 ended the run. I never did replace my v1.37 .... All the PT freebies were supposed to "sunset" on 15 September 2012. Their download links were still functional the next morning, well after midnight Pacific, when I looted the place of all discontinued items.

The developer never really gave a compelling reason to buy the thing, and it was already a loss leader product by the time mobile phones passed 70% adoption.

I hear your coughing. I tried twice in two years to buy s/w for media production, among the best you can get for its category. The developer's braindead payment processor choked each time and thought my bank was lying about my mailing address. The response I got from Customer Disservice was pretty much a shrug, which is what I did as I obtained a serial code from some dark alley site, and never gave the matter more thought. I had work to do and the "official" channels had already cost me too much non-billable time.

I am still using version 1.31 and still is free and working fine. I think that the old versions still work for free.Do not update to 1.37 or 139.

I am still using version 1.31 and still is free and working fine. I've been using PhoneTray Free for many tears now with success. But is not sophisticates as the new  PhoneTray Pro and spyware.If you are able to download the old version still works some how.

By the way, this should be noted by anyone using Phone Tray Free: It seems to fail after every monthly Windows update. Works fine after reinstalling, which takes but a moment, but it is annoying having to reinstall once a month. I have no idea if the paid version suffers from this bug.

I have been using the Phone Tray Pro since the end of July and so far so good.  Initially had a few unintended zap messages play but figured out that the USB modem wasn't waking up fast enough to capture the CID information. Since I worked out that problem, it seems to be doing a pretty good job. I also have a Digitone on the line to suppress the first ring (not overkill, we receive a LOT of annoying mis-dialed telephone numbers in the middle of the night).

I've been using Phone Tray Free (PTF) for about a year and a half now and have not needed to re-install..  But then I am running it on a Pentium III system running XP as the OS.  I do use the Windows update service, but I do the installs manually.  I do, very occasionally, have to re-initialize the modem so PTF sees the Caller ID info and doesn't report NA for the name and number.  For the most part, I am very happy with PTF.  I enjoy playing with the outgoing messages, picking ones that I feel give the best response to different callers.  My favorite is my "FAX machine"; recording of a fax machine modem generating the initial handshaking tones, looped several times and then cranked up in volume to deliver about 30 seconds of ear-piercing noise.  Really good for those live callers that repeatedly will not take "No" for an answer.

I do exactly the same thing with the fax modem sound!

Make sure everyone keeps a few backup copies of Phone Tray Free. It is getting harder to find copies & I know the pro version owner has asked web sites to take the free version down. Comments I'd like to make in favor of the free version (1) You had the choice to log-or not log junk calls. If I don't want to hear from them & they get zapped, why would I want a record of it? (2) The paid version has a dialer in it & there is NO way to get rid of it. (3) I liked the free version because it was so hands-on. You could edit the cvs file, change just about any setting, & it worked well with either a fax/modem, or a voice/fax/modem. If you had a cheapie fax/modem you could use "silent" & it would give the caller a "chirp" & then disconnect. One bit of lazy programming - it's based on Microsoft's .net. Don't have .net 2.0 installed on your computer, you don't install it. Put me down as a fan of the free version. The Pro has lots of bells & whistles, but the free version does exactly what it's suppose to do. For what a computer uses in electricity for the month, & the fact that it works - works for me.

Phone Tray Free is readily available through torrent sites.

Like you I was very unhappy with some of the stuff they added to the paid version. It's a shame because I would happily have paid their asking price otherwise.

Starting yesterday, avast! began deleting any phonetray.exe file it found.  I figure either they assumed it was the newer version (spyware), or, sneakily, the traysoft people leaked to avast! that the original was a virus.  In any event, it's gone, and I'm looking for alternates.