Appeal to the Masses: Antiviral / Malware / Internet Security

[ase]

Norton Internet Security recently reminded me (in a pop-up) that I paid for the privilege of dealing with its irritating pop-up messages, cycle-stealing "idle time" scans, and unforgivably bad GUI almost a year ago. Would I like to give Norton more money and renew my subscription?

Gentle readers, I would not, if there is a better option. CNET likes Avast, so that's my first choice. I would be pleased to read about your favorite internet protection software in comments. Anything free / cheap, or with high marks from reputable reviewing agencies, gets bonus points. Suggestions without links to the software and/or reviews will not be taken as seriously.

Comments

[sraun]

I like AVG Free. They've got a link-scanner, but I don't approve of them on general principles. I'm sufficiently conservative in my surfing habits that I don't worry about anything past that.

[emceeaich]

I recently had to run Windows 7 in a virtual machine so I can run a Windows-only SDK (grumble, Samsung, grumble) so I bought a subscription to Kaspersky because:

* we used it for windows machines at our old company and it worked well
* an acquaintance of mine whose judgement around computer security I respect thinks well enough of them to have applied to work for them as a security researcher

I'm paying $25/year machine for the subscription.