There are a lot that are quite good, and a lot that are not, so it can be a confusing decision.

I’m very loyal to Kaspersky IS, as it is very light on the system (even my single-core non-HT P4 systems work very well with it), has very aggressive threat updates, and tends to be very tough both on the soft firewall and the actual software defense.

It is a little pricey, though. Bitdefender is also quite good (tends to lead the charts with Kaspersky) and is around half the cost.

Here’s an independant listing that is actually quite accurate: http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/

AVG Free and Microsoft Security Essentials work quite well if you don’t want to spend any money.

For me it’s one of three; BullGuard, Bitdefender or Kaspersky

Kaspersky and ESET are the only ones I recommend. I am currently using ESET. Works extremely well and has zero effect on my gaming performance.

thnx to every one….i’m going for kaspersky then

I prefer to buy and use Norton Internet Security. A few years back before I dabbled and messed around in computers I used AVG FREE and I got a terrible Virus. I was lucky i was able to fiddle around and tinker on the computer to install a trial version of Norton at the then time to get it out. Took me 2 whole days because the virus kept shutting me off so I couldn’t download and install the Norton. Haven’t looked back since with Norton as it keeps me safe and always up to date. I tried Norton 360 which was amazing but for 2012 I bought the Norton Internet Security for 3 pc’s 1 user. Installed it on my home computer, sisters laptop and my laptop. Then my laptops on board graphics card died on me. It was too expensive to fix so I lost out on my installation there. But I contacted Norton and they gave me another free install. Great service and support.

I’ve been a Norton user for many years and have had zero issues!

That said, I also have to come to my customers rescue coz the security they were using was not doing it’s job……I’ve seen them all, free and paid versions, and most can’t hold a candle to Norton…I’m sorry, Norton is the way to travel the WWW….

Norton has been a pain in the butt for me for a while. Very system intrusive, lots of unnecessary pop-ups, and even issues with kicking you out of a game or full-screen application to tell you something. I’ve been told that this has been much improved over the last several releases, though, and they are creeping back up the charts again.

Windows Security Essentials FTW!

I think Avast free edition is the best free one because it has saved me several times while downloading torrents and such as far as simplicity is concerned I think AVG is pretty good.

Best paid version is hard to answer because some are more focused on looks *cough* Norton *cough* then they are on actually protecting your computer. While some are better at certain things. Avast for instance has excellent real time shielding which means that it is constantly monitoring internet traffic to make sure there isn’t any bad files downloading to your computer. AVG has one of the best anti root-kit system and an efficient scanning tool.

The answer constantly changes due to the malware that is out there and what O/S you are using.

AV-Tests periodically runs just about all security and anti-virus programs through a series of tests. They generate reports on those tests. I do not know if they are affiliated with any particular company, but they have not consistently shown any favoritism towards one program, although it is worth noting that some of the big companies have the best scores according to their tests.

AV-Comparatives also runs programs through their tests, however, they select test candidates based on a strict set of guidelines.

V-Bulletin places several programs at the very top: TrustPort, GData, Zeobit.
I believe V Bulletin’s tests suffer from inconsistency in methodology.

AV Comparatives PDF Summary:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/avc_prot_2012b_en.pdf

The one program that all three sites agreed on to varying levels was Kapersky.

TBH if you are careful, internet security isn`t necessary. Otherwise, I like Norton =).

I’m surprised nobody has looked at Comodo Internet Security.

I’ve been using this for a while now with some pretty good success. It gets a lot less invasive than some I have used. One of its unique features is it will run programs in a ‘sandbox’ or VM if there is no certification from its site for that program. This lets you actually run possibly viral or trojan apps safely without endangering your system.

I find it does sandbox some more common programs, but once you train it to recognize these as safe, it gets much more easy to live with.