SCUD Help (scud 1.6)

What is Scud?

Scud is designed to monitor callerID activity via your caller id capable modem. When telemarketers call you, the calls are usually displayed as "UNAVAILABLE". Scud detects these calls and answers them after the first ring with a modem answer tone. The telemarketer will note that they have reached a modem, and will hopefully remove your number from their call list. Additionally, you can enter other caller's names or numbers into a scud list, and they too will be answered. You will never have to run for the phone again only to be accosted by unwanted callers. With scud defending your privacy, don't bother with calls that ring only once.

You can configure scud to answer (or hang-up) on:

Unavailable callers
Private callers
Any other caller that meets certain specifications (name or number)

Scud is a free, simple, no-frills, non-gui application. It runs in the background (if installed as a service). If run from the command line or icon, it will bring up a command window where the log of activity can be seen. All caller ID activity is logged in the log file (the default is: C:\scud.log).

What are the requirements?

Operating system (tested on FreeBSD, Win2k, WinXP)
Caller ID service from your telephone service provider
Modem with caller id support (must accept either AT+VCID=2 or AT#CID=2 command)

Scud Operation

Scud is controlled by options placed in the config file (C:\Program Files\Scud\scud.conf) and/or entered on the command line. The available options are:

-NORc: Do NOT read the config file (command line option only).
-Blacklist <regexp>: Perform an action on any name or number that contains this regular expression.
-ACTion [answer | hangup]: Tells scud what type of action to perform for a selected caller. Answer the call with the modem, which will issue the sync signal, or politely hang up.
-CONsole: Write log lines to console window also.
-DBLbyte: Some modems send each caller id byte as two bytes (printable ascii).
-DELay <seconds>: After scud has performed an action (anwer or hangup) on any call, do not perform another action for this many seconds. This is good in case someone tries to call you from a selected name/number, they can immediately try to call again and the call will come through.
-DEVice <modem-device>: Tells scud which modem device to use. The default is COM2
-HANGUPDuration <seconds>: The number of seconds to wait between the off-hook/on-hook commands.
-HEARTbeat <seconds>: The number of seconds to wait before re-sending the modem-init-string to modem. Some modems seem to forget after a while what they were doing.
-INItcid <modem-init-string>: The modem init string for caller ID support. The default is to try AT#CID=2 first, then AT+VCID=2 next.
-LOG <log file>: The file to which log lines are written. The default is C:\scud.log.
-MODEMDuration <seconds>: The number of seconds to send the modem sync signal before closing the connection. The default is 10 seconds.
-NAMe <pattern>: Perform an action on any caller whose name contains this pattern. Case doesn't matter here. You can use regular expressions here. If the pattern contains a space it must be enclosed in quotes (i.e. "quattlebaum david").
-PHOne|-NUMber <pattern>: Perform an action on any caller whose number contains this pattern.
-PRIVate: Perform an action on callers flagged as Private.
-TIMErange <timerange>: Perform an action only during this timerange. The format of the is HHMM-HHMM.
-UNAVailable: Perform an action on callers’ phone number flagged as Unavailable
-VERBose <level>: Verbose logging (1 - somewhat verbose, 2 - very verbose). Good for debugging.
-Whitelist <regexp>: Let any name or number that contains this regular expression pass-thru with no action.

Example config file

The following config file will cause scud to answer (send sync signal) unavailable and private callers. Also any caller name with abc in the name will be answered. The modem device to use is COM3:

        -answer
	-device COM3
	-unavailable
	-private
	-name abc
	-name political
	-name anonymous
        # even if name is unavailable, let this number thru
        -whitelist 1234567890

Service notes

A service is an application that runs on windows all the time in the background. It will start running as soon as windows has finished starting up. Under WinNT/Win2000/WinXP scud can be controlled using the Service Control Manager (Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services). There will be an entry for scud if you installed the service during the initial install.

To install scud as a service after the initial installation, issue the commands:

cd c:\program files\scud
nssm install scud "c:\program files\scud\scud.exe"

To start the scud service, issue the command:

net start scud

To stop the scud service, issue the command:

net stop scud

To remove the scud service, issue the commands:

cd c:\program files\scud
nssm remove scud confirm

Other notes

You can use Start->Programs->Scud->Edit scud.log to see the activity of scud when it is running as a service.

My current setup at home:

Homebuilt PC running WinXP SP3
US Robotics V.92 Fax Win Int modem

Support

Scud is written and supported by David Quattlebaum, who can be reached at: scud at drqware.com

Acknowledgements

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by Brian S. Dean.
This product includes NSIS installation software from NullSoft, Inc
This product includes NSSM service manager software from Iain Patterson.