Best Free Unit Conversion Program

Mon, 11/24/2008 - 09:08 — Jojoyee

In a Hurry?

Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide

Introduction

Have you ever needed to convert feet into millimeters without looking for a table, or wanted to convert from one currency unit to another?

These are a few handy and free desktop conversion programs which you might be looking for. If you do not like to install the programs but prefer to use web-based converters, there are also several online converters for conversion of currency or measurement units as well.

Measurement Unit Converter

Convert comes with a user-friendly and intuitive interface. If offers pre-defined 21 categories of units and one custom unit which can be defined by users.

The 21 categories include the most popular units of distance, area, volume, volume-dry, mass, density, temperature, time, speed, power, pressure, energy and many others.

To convert a unit into another, just click on a category tab you need, select the input unit and output unit, Convert will show you the conversion result in the output box as you type.

The category tab is customizable. For some conversions that you use the most, you can set them to the front of the tab order, and for some conversions that you may never use, you can hide them to simplify the unit listings. A restart of Convert will bring you to the last conversion you entered.

ESBUnitConv provides conversion between over 500 units in 20 measurement categories.

Most of the categories are the same as those featured by Convert. However, its category tabs are fixed and not customizable, neither have a custom tab for definition by users.

George Lewe's Measure offers conversion of some simple units in linear, area, volume, liquid and weight. On top of that, it even has paper sizes, numeric systems (including roman), clothing sizes and a few other miscellaneous measures. It is interesting and worth a try.

Other than the desktop programs, there are a number of web-based unit converters available. Digital Dutch's online Unit Converter is a good try. It comes with a cleaner web page, instant response and ease of use.

George's Measure also has an online version which is webMeasure with about the same features offered by the desktop version.

Currency Unit Converter

Kneson Currency Calculator (Standard Version) is a free desktop currency converter. It has an option to allow you to choose as many foreign currencies as you want to convert. From a base currency, the converted amounts in different currencies are shown up in a separate windows.

Updating currency exchanges rates is as easy as selecting a menu item and clicking a button. The program remembers your currency selections and exchanges currencies instantly with unlimited free currency exchange rate updates.

Other than the desktop programs, there are a number of web-based currency converters available. Bloomberg's online Currency Calculator is a good choice as its intraday data is updated more frequently. To cover exchange rates for a selected period of time, Bank of Canada's online 10-year Currency Converter is a good try.

Measurement / Currency Unit Converter

If you need a unit converter with a currency exchange conversion, Microsoft Calculator Plus may be a good choice. It offers conversion of measurement units in 10 popular categories together with another category for currency exchange.

For currency conversions, you can add currencies to the default list. The program includes a tool to automatically update the exchange rate for the Euro by downloading it from the European Central Bank.

This program can be downloaded free from Microsoft, but it requires Windows Genuine Advantage certification upon downloading.

Converber is a good alternative for a free unit converter complete with the currency exchange category.

It allows conversions between over 1,200 units of measurement in 33 categories. It gives quite a number of features including immediate access to all categories or a single category, a favorite to bookmark your frequently-used conversions, an update of currency rates, etc.

However, even though it is stated that the currency rates are updated daily in some of its features, the date as indicated by the program in the version under this review is found not quite up to date.

Quick Selection Guide

Convert
		Convert units in 21 categories, intuitive interface with a custom unit and customizable category tabs.
		Currency unit conversion is not included.
		http://joshmadison.com/article/convert-for-windows/
		http://joshmadison.com/article/download-convert-for-windows
		780 KB 4.10 Unrestricted Freeware Win 95 to Vista

ESBUnitConv
		Convert 500 units in 20 measurement categories.
		Category tabs are fixed and not customizable. Currency unit conversion is not included.
		http://www.esbconsult.com.au/esbcalc/esbunitconv.htm
		http://www.esbconsult.com/esbunitconv.zip
		863 KB 6.0.1 Unrestricted Freeware Win 95 to Vista

Measure
		Normal measurement unit conversion, with extra measures such as paper sizes, numeric systems and clothing sizes.
		Currency category is not included.
		http://www.lewe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:measure&catid=98:windows-tools&Itemid=35
		http://www.lewe.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=17&Itemid=45
		5.46 MB 3.0.0015 Unrestricted Freeware Win 95 to Vista

Kneson Currency Converter (Standard Version)
		Allows as many foreign currencies as you need with unlimited free currency exchange updates.
		The user interface is less intuitive. Measurement unit conversion is not included.
		http://www.currency-calculator.net/
		Link 1
		2.22 MB 2.1.1 Unrestricted Freeware Win 95 to XP

Microsoft Calculator Plus
		Measurement unit conversion with currency exchange category.
		Updating exchange rates for the Euro only.
		http://www.microsoft.com/hk/businesscentre/english/themes/manage-your-finances/convertcurrenciesandmeasurementswithcalculatorplus.mspx
		http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=32b0d059-b53a-4dc9-8265-da47f157c091&displaylang=en
		476 KB 1.0 Freeware, subject to WGA Win 95 to Vista

Converber
		Convert between over 1,200 units of measurement in 33 categories. Currency exchange category available.
		Currency rates are not quite up to date as indicated.
		http://www.xyntec.com/converber.htm
		http://www.xyntec.com/unit-converter-download.htm
		333 KB 1.8.0 Unrestricted Freeware Win 98 to XP

This software category is maintained by volunteer Jojoyee. Registered site visitors can contact him by clicking here.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

#1Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/03/2008 - 14:14.

You may find most conversions at www.onlineconversion.com. They have an extensive list of conversions.

Navigation

User login

Best Free Unit Conversion Program

Convert

ESBUnitConv

Measure

Kneson Currency Converter (Standard Version)

Microsoft Calculator Plus

Converber

Post new comment