With all the cool 3D Max stuff available I am looking for a program (inexpensive or Free) which can convert this format to something Poser can read (eg OBJ,LW,3DS).. Anyone seen one?

I don't believe .max format can be converted by anything except max...

I think I've heard people say that the demo version of Max will allow you to convert. That's about the only option. Even converters like PolyTrans require you to have Max installed to work AFAIK. The ancient 3DExploration (now Deep Exploration) would read .max files but it could only recognize geometry primitives so it often wasn't useful for many models. 

The 3dsMax demo is fully functional for 30 days, so I suggest downloading it (there's a link to it in the banner of the 3dsMax forum) and converting your models (load them and export as .obj)

Thats what I thought 
I  downloaded the demo out some time ago just to try it. Never got around to it. But I beleive since the demo period is expired and  it won't re-install   
Thanks to all for your input

You can always install it in a VM.

does that require a drive partition?

AFAIK you don't need a new partition, most of the VM tools i've used just store everything in a large file on your existing partitions.

Hum,
VM I am unsure about this.. I always thought that the keys were buried in the registry or some obscure. The registry I thought would note that the software trial had been expired...
Now I got figure out how to set up a VM???

It doesn't matter where the keys are, as a VM works like an isolated/independent computer with its own OS and registry. Of course every time you want to reset the demo you would have to wipe the VM and reinstall its OS so this is not a practical way to use MAX... but for just converting your stuff it should be fine.

The only other option is to wipe your main/actual system, because like others have said only MAX can convert its own format.

Oh and you may also want to take a look at the demo versions of the various other (older/newer) versions of MAX. AFAIK the time limits of one version's demo doesn't affect that of the others, so if you've got v2010 expired, you may still be able to use v2009 or whatever. And all new versions of MAX can open files from older versions.

Quote - It doesn't matter where the keys are, as a VM works like an isolated/independent computer with its own OS and registry. Of course every time you want to reset the demo you would have to wipe the VM and reinstall its OS so this is not a practical way to use MAX... but for just converting your stuff it should be fine.

The only other option is to wipe your main/actual system, because like others have said only MAX can convert its own format.

There is no need to wipe the VM and reinstall its OS. Current VM software have a feature called snapshot that saves the state the virtual system, so you can revert to a clean system and trial for another 30 days anytime.

I am not sure if there is a difference between 3D studio and 3D Max / 3D Studio max, but if not, use Blender 3D to import 3D Studio files (.3ds file) end export as a wavefront (.obj file).
Blender 3D is small and free.
You can also try Wave 3D.

Quote - I am not sure if there is a difference between 3D studio and 3D Max / 3D Studio max ...

There is an important difference between .MAX files (3DSMax scene files) and .3DS files (meshes exported from 3DSMax) in that MAX files can only be read by 3DSMax itself (as noted here) whereas 3DS files can be read by many programs.
This is because a MAX file doesn't just store simple geometry, but parametric descriptions of various constructs (e.g. curves and primitives) meaning you'd effectively have to recreate a lot of the code in 3DSMax to be able to correctly interpret the contents.