Getting a reverse number lookup program is the best way I know to dealing with that daily pain - the unknown caller.

It is great for work and home, but in this article I just want to focus on the value of this for home use.

Because... who hasn't been woken up in the middle of the night by someone who then hangs up without saying anything?

Now, I could say who hasn't been called in the middle of the night by some jerk who then hangs up without saying anything.

It could also be a sales pitch from some idiot in a different time zone who hasn't checked the clock!

But what if it's a friend or relative who is really sick or in some life-threatening situation and unable to speak? In other words, what if it's a call for help?

The problem is that you're staring at some number you don't recognize - and you don't particularly want to call back before you know who the caller is. Face it, it could be a nut, or an angry ex. If you live alone, that thought can be slightly unnerving.

I hate to raise this, but if you are married or in a long-term in a relationship and you've been getting a lot of these "silent calls" on your home phone, consider the possibility your partner is having an affair. Wouldn't you like to know who the caller is in that situation? You betcha.

You could look the number up, but if it's out of area that's very time consuming - and sometimes numbers are unlisted. And if it's a cellphone... forget it. That aren't any cellphone directories!

Which is why millions of North Americans now use a cheap, quick and easy new solution - reverse number lookup.

What it means is that you can amble over to your computer or laptop and punch a number into a huge, constantly expanding Internet database. You can discover a name, address, state (or Canadian province) and often much more associated with the unknown caller. We're talking standard phones, cell phones, business phones, pagers, pay phones and yes, even some unlisted numbers.

You can also use these services to access background information through U.S. Government Records and state court documents.

Several companies offer these online basic phone search services - check them out and take the mystery out of unknown numbers.