[TideRoll]

I've had mostly good results with the new integrated Comodo Internet Security Suite. It has antivirus and a firewall and is free to private users.

I've found that it sometimes forgets answers to program access questions, and for true nubies, it bight be a touch steep on the learning and attention curve.

Other than that, you'll have a hard time going wrong with AVG or Avast and ZoneAlarm Free or a copy of the Sygate firewall if you can find it floating around. I've put some combination of these on several friends/family systems in the past.

I have to say that I am rather impressed with the 2009 version of the Norton Suite. I had written them off several years ago as hopeless bloatware but they've slimmed it down in a very major way. I never thought I'd say that it was a better product than the Zonelabs one, but it is, at least this year. Lighter on resources, faster, less intrusive but still secure. Very nice. There is a demo reset patch floating around for it but I'm not sure how safe it is going and looking for it. Most of the places it might reside will have a higher than average rate of viral infections. I paid for mine and that is saying something for an old pirate like me.