CalcTape

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on November 10, 2011

Think all desktop calculators are the same, just with different buttons? You're pretty much right. Most basically replicate the look and functions of a handheld calculator on your desktop. The built-in Windows calculator is fine for quick jobs, while some scientific and mathematical desktop calculators wouldn't look out of place hanging from an engineering student's belt. Then there's SFR Calculator Personal Edition. The best description we can come up with is a Windows calculating utility. SFR integrates a number pad, of course, since it's essential, but its built-in document feature lets you save, annotate, and edit calculations. It's kind of like a calculator with a built-in whiteboard.

SFR Calculator's interface uses an Office-style ribbon toolbar with Start and Settings tabs and a Quick Access Toolbar. The main view opens with a blank New Document. To the right is the program's number pad, which includes buttons for adding and subtracting sales tax, though we could customize the buttons for other functions as well as configure the percentage in each button's options. We made some calculations, and SFR Calculator displayed the figures in the main window in clear, color-coded type. A handy slider under the number pad let us quickly change the size of the decimals and any text we cared to type into the document. Clicking Calculator or Text Editor switched between those functions.

We could also quickly resize the interface, drag it into position, and pin it in place, as well as enable Always on Top from the menu bar. Under Settings, we could choose between three provided skins, choose English or German as the interface language, format decimals and rounding, and make other choices. We could also Show or Exit the program from the system tray.

As a calculator, SFR performed flawlessly, though any sort of failure in that regard would be remarkable; math is what computers do best (arguably, it's all they do). If you're looking for something different from the usual apps and gadgets, give SFR Calculator Personal Edition a try.