Currency Meter

Currency Meter is a free desktop gadget for the Windows Sidebar made by AddGadgets.com.

Currency Meter is a small Windows gadget that tracks foreign exchange rates, also known as forex rates, right on the desktop. It can monitor up to six rates at the same time for 149 currencies, and it also covers gold, palladium, platinum, and silver. It is meant for people who send money abroad, travel, or simply want to keep an eye on the rates, and it is not a trading platform.

Currency Meter Features

The Currency Meter allows users to quickly and easily see the relative value of different currencies.

Up to Six Rates: The gadget displays up to six exchange rates at once. Each rate is shown with its price change and price percent change, so you can see at a glance which way a rate is moving.

149 Currencies and Precious Metals: You can pick the rates you need from 149 world currencies, and the list also includes gold, palladium, platinum, and silver.

Price Graph: A price graph shows the recent movement of a rate. Version 1.2 added a Yahoo Finance chart in the gadget's flyout for a closer look.

Rate Alerts: You can set an alert above a price or below a price and key in the rate at which you want to make your transfer. The gadget keeps scanning the market, and when the rate is reached it plays an alert sound and shows an alert icon.

Alarm Sounds: Five different alarm sounds are included, and the gadget also plays your own music files in ASX, WPL, MP3, WAV, and WMA formats. The sound volume and the number of repeats can be adjusted. All sounds require Windows Media Player 7.0 or later.

Refresh Rate: By default the market is checked every 10 minutes, and you can reduce the interval to 1 minute. The forex market is closed from 21:00 UTC Friday until 22:00 UTC Sunday, so rates do not change during that time.

High and Low Prices: Since version 1.1 you can change the high and low prices used by the gadget.

Adjustable Size: The gadget can be resized to take more or less space on the Windows desktop.

Adjustable Colors: Both the background color and the text color can be changed to match your desktop theme.

Reset to Default: One option restores all settings to their default values.

Auto Update Notifier: Currency Meter tells you when a new version of the gadget is available on the developer's website.

Compatibility: The developer lists Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012 as supported systems. Windows 10 and Windows 11 no longer include the Sidebar, so there the gadget needs a third-party gadget host.

License and Status: Currency Meter is freeware with a download size of about 150 KB. The last version, 1.4, was released on 5 May 2015 and fixed a currency API issue; the gadget has not been updated since, so rate data may stop loading if the data source changes.