Anti Virus

For now, I'd recommend downloading Malwarebytes, which is a free anti-virus software with optional premium features.

EDIT: Whoops! I meant to say to use Malwarebytes as an anti-virus scanner, and not a real-time anti-virus protection software. My bad.

I use Windows Defender + Malwarebytes

I'd suggest Avast or Avira.

I think Norton is pretty good, if I had any complaints it would be that sometimes it catches downloads I want and puts it into a 'quarrantine'. But it's usually pretty easy to reverse and I can get the file back.

I use Avast* and my brains.

*Even though it has some issues here and there.

AVG or Avast

Avast all day, every day!
I just think it's the best free antivirus on the market. I am never going to purchase anti-virus software again after i began using this.
Combined with Windows Firewall, it's pretty good.
Sure, it ain't Kaspersky, which is probably the safest you can get, but it does the job and Avast have caught many dangerous website links for me :P

Don't even bother with AVG. I've used it before at i doesn't have NEARLY as many features as Avast Free.

I have decided to go with Avast free for now into i find another one i might like so thanks for the help.

I use Comodo (free) and I have no issues, works good.

Avast had been good for me. Avast has been rated really well these days by AV testing places. Best free you can get pretty much.

I used to use AVG, but they bloated the crud out of it. It loves reporting false positives, so I dropped it. and switched.

More important than any of that is to use "Common Sense" Anti virus.

Comodo antivirus + firewall / HIPS / auto-sandboxing.

I use avira.

To be honest, you will get virus eventually, doesnt matter which AV you use. But some decent may stall virus for a while, or the ones you get are "harmless" most of the time, so, avira is a decent choice.

I use Avast. It's really great. I actually upgraded to Internet Security, and it's definitely worth it.

I also use McAfee's Stinger once a month to scan for Trojans and whatnot. Haven't had any issues in a long while now (virus-related ones, at least).

Nod32 , using for years without any problem, best av in my opinion, it also very good for gaming because it doesn't affect pc performances, just get trial code every few months, you can easily find trial keys by googling.

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is free for windows

There are a lot of free anti-virus programs out there, and most of them are similarly effective from the test results I've seen on the web. Avast, AVG, and Avira are a few names that come to mind. While Microsoft Security Essentials is also free, it's not very good any more, so you ought to use something else instead of or in addition to it. The last test results I looked at called MSE the baseline, and it wasn't very high. Pretty much everything else outperformed it.

Avast and Malwarebytes combo :P

Avast & MS Security Essentials.

Also, http://www.av-comparatives.org/ is the only ones to ask as they actually test and are independent.

I use AVG. I used to use Norton, NEVER AGAIN. I also had Avast for awhile but AVG seems less obtrusive to me, the only popups it gives me are when it needs to restart. I remember when I had Avast it always had alerts popping up which bugged the crap out of me but that was my ONLY complaint about it.

Why not try Bitdefender Internet Security?
They give out free key which you can use for 6 months.

http://www.bitdefender.com/media/html/stacksocial/

Eset Smart Security 7 + Malwarebytes.

MSE + Malwarebytes.

Low on resources, non intrusive, catches everything.

MSE and Malwarebytes. You can try the trial for the Malwarebytes in case of emergency.

Install also Spywareblaster for additional protection.

Low resources :)

Avast.
Why?
Because it has best detection rate free version is really good and customizable unlike others.
And it doesn't hog down your system like others,actually its most lightweight.
Read this https://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/2/

I use IOBit Advanced SystemCare. No issue, whatsoever. But be warned that it eats up lots of performance if you have a low end PC.