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Best Free Unit and Currency Conversion Program
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Introduction
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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.
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Discussion
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Measurement Unit Converter
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 Convert comes with a user-friendly and intuitive interface. It 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.
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 ESBUnitConv provides conversion among over 500 units in 20 differernt measurement categories.
Most of the categories are the same as those featured by Convert. However, its category tabs are fixed and not customizable, and it does not have a custom tab for definition by users.
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 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.
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Measurement / Currency Unit Converter
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 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.
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 Converber is a good alternative for a free unit converter complete with a 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.
It is stated that the currency rates are updated daily in some of its features. If you note that the rates are not updated on first run after installation of the program, you might need to click on 'Help' and 'Check for Updates', or enable the option to check for updates.
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Looking for online converters?
Other than the desktop programs, these are a number of web-based unit converters available.
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Have Your Say
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You are invited to share and discuss your views in our freeware forum. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. Alternatively, anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
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Please help us by rating this review
Convert
Gizmo's Freeware award as the best product in its class!
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Convert units in 21 categories, intuitive interface with a custom unit and customizable category tabs.
Currency unit conversion is not included.
4.10
780 KB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Unrestricted freeware
Win 95 to Win 7
Converber
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Convert between over 1,200 units of measurement in 33 categories. Currency exchange category available.
Currency rates are noted not up-to-date on first run after installation.
1.8.0
690 KB
Unrestricted freeware
Win 98 to XP
ESBUnitConv
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Converts 500 units in 20 measurement categories.
Category tabs are fixed and not customizable. Currency unit conversion is not included.
7.3
1.16 MB
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Win 98 to Win 7
Measure
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Normal measurement unit conversion, with extra measures such as paper sizes, numeric systems and clothing sizes.
Currency category is not included.
3.0.0015
5.46 MB
Unrestricted freeware
Win 95 to Vista
Microsoft Calculator Plus
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Measurement unit conversion with currency exchange category.
Updating exchange rates for the Euro only.
1.0
476 KB
Unrestricted freeware
Win 95 to Vista
subject to WGA.
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Editor
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| This software category is in need of an editor. If you are interested in taking it over then check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here. |
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Tags
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unit converter, convert unit, currency unit, convert currency, freeware, free unit converter, online converter |
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Comments
I've been using a freeware program called DAS Unit Converter for a long time now.
It has over 2000 units in over 80 categories, and you can add your own. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best I've ever used.
http://das-uc.110mb.com/
I use google and online conversion as well Here is some more though.
online-unit-converter.com easyunitconverter.com convertworld.com onlineunitconverter.net
I've used Microsoft Calculator Plus for several years - its a nice basic calculator. However, it's currency converter (at least on the version I'm using) only converts between Euros and the original currencies of the euro-zone countries which makes it next to useless!
I had been using an "Editor's Choice" Google Conversion Widget on my iGoogle page, but saw that the widget was associated with the website http://gooconvert.com so I have been going there ever since. It doesn't have the thousands of conversions that some have, but it does seem to have everything I have needed and it is all right there on a single screen. It converts your quantity to essentially every other unit in that same category. For example, if you enter distance in feet it shows the equivalent amount in just about every other unit of distance.
One negative- it does not have currency conversions.
Does anybody know a converter that will handle values in multiple units (e.g. lengths in feet and inches, or weights in pounds and ounces)?
just use Google, it will convert almost anything, Try these queries
20 dollars to british pounds
5 feet to meters
5 kg * 9.8 m/s^2
note for that last one (the equation F = ma), it will give the answer in newtons, but if you want it in pounds,
5 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 in pounds
Yes. I use Google for many conversions.
Another one that I was surprised it handled was estimating download time of a file at a certain speed such as 100MB/40kBps.
the new calculator in Windows 7 offers conversion for popular units.
though i usually just use the unit converter that's built into google. no clicking required :)
I've used Convert for awhile now, but after trying out Converber I've now converted!
I prefer the interface in Convert, but Converber includes all it's categories and units, as well as up to date currency conversions.
Contrary to what's been written in this article, I've found that Converber does keep up to date with current exchange rates, within a day normally.
Thanks a lot for your valuable feedback. I've made some amendments to the relevant section after this update.
Ran across the tiny Quad-Lock Unit Converter.
Only 218kB and does not need to be installed.
Does have the company name (xxx insulating concrete forms?), but appears to be clean otherwise.
Does not do currency, but does over 900 conversions (some of which I do not even know what they are) that should cover a lot of needs.
Other features include a function to Find Units and a Smart Input box that evaluates fractions, complex expressions etc.
Windows 98/Me /NT/2000/XP/Vista
Steve
Great find, thanks for the tip!
This is a good one for engineering types, it even coverts some frequently used but little known outside of the engineering community measurements such as kips (kilograms per sq inch).
Thanks Keroffs. The user interface of the program does have a link to a related web page but I think the link is acceptable as it's not too intrusive.
I tried this software before but decided not to add it to the list yet. Some bugs such as display issues are noted in the category "Area". Do you encounter similar problems when you use it?
I do not have that issue.
Steve
Very good conversion service which I use every day http://www.convertcenter.com
Yes, I used http://www.convertcenter.com too! It is so extensive you should be able to do just about any kind of conversion that you might be looking for.
You may find most conversions at www.onlineconversion.com. They have an extensive list of conversions.
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