Out there, right now, are more different kinds of security suites than you can ever hope to decipher. Each one looks alluring and has an established reputation--be it good or bad. McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro, they're the big names in the market of antivirus and other security software. Supposedly, you install it and you're set for the year or two you've purchased it. But are you really getting your money's worth?

Well, that's what I set off to find out awhile back, and a few of the answers I've found may surprise you.

Let's begin with the antivirus vendors. "Viruses" are what everyone first thinks about when someone says "malware". These little buggers typically spread by infecting files and programs (with varying levels of complication), then implanting themselves in other such files and programs. They continue in this manner until the computer-in-question is a slow, lumbering hulk that either doesn't function at all, or does at a small percentage of its usual capacity. Viruses can infect documents, the registry, your web browser, and your email, and render them all...well, "virusy".

So we turn to a particular kind of software to save the day, because let's face it: You and I wouldn't know the first thing to do if we got infected--and that's assuming we would know we were afflicted. But there's a problem. What suite do you use to protect yourself? Which is the best at what it does? That was my question a good ways back, and I found the general interpretation I sought.

The answer? None of the vendors you pay for have the optimum protection that everyone should have. Look for yourselves, here and here just for an example. Sure, Norton and the others perform adequately enough to make the lists outright, but otherwise, compared to the others found, the results are "meh", at best. A 95% detection rate shouldn't be what someone is shooting for. The fact is, the closer to the full 100% you get, the safer your system is.

Now, I've tried a lot of different suites in my time. There was McAfee, Trend Micro, AVG, avast!, and I won't lie: They were adequate. They provided a sense of security, but I couldn't help but feel nervous--like there was a better option out there. The third free AV I tried was a software named Avira. It's a free software from Germany, and on the different lists I kept referring to, it consistently rated in the top few (in the 99+% range and higher on AV-comparatives, and the high 90's at Virus.gr). More importantly--it's almost always higher than the name-brand softwares you pay for!

You're probably scratching your head right now and saying, "Did I miss something? What is my hard-earned money paying for?" Well, I asked myself the exact same thing, and I decided that I'd had enough of all the bloated payware and 60-day trials and unsatisfactory defense. I've stuck with Avira ever since, and to this day, I haven't had a single security breach.

And when you think about all-encompassing security, you really need a firewall, and anti-spyware and such, like those big software bundles of old. You do need a firewall, truly, because Windows' software is far from cutting it. So what better free one than Comodo or, as a simpler alternative, ZoneAlarm for the less-paranoid? (Note that Comodo is, according to many sources, the most dependable and most difficult to crack free firewall available. ZoneAlarm has a good reputation, and is always much better than the Windows firewall, and pop-ups for it are fewer than Comodo. If you do more dangerous activities on the Internet, go with the first, but if you aren't too worried, then ZoneAlarm should suffice.)

But security alone isn't enough to keep your computer nice and tidy--though antispyware is a must these days: SUPERantispyware and a-squared are both good choices. For keeping your files and such all clean, try CCleaner and Advanced System Care for clean-up duty (and the latter has active protection against spyware, and also works double-duty as a defragger).

These are surely just a few of the good products out there, but these are all free and have served me very well. With these (and/or their predecessors) in place, I've never had to worry about infection. My computer runs as fast as the day I bought it, and it shows no signs of slowing at all. So, if you blindly throw your loyalty at one of the Big Guys, I'd take a long, hard look at what you're getting for a yearly subscription--when you can have everything you would ever need to stay safe for not a penny out-of-pocket.

A/N: I tend to run each of these programs on a weekly basis, typically on a weekend where I can allow the processor to devote itself to work. Be sure to update every single time you open the programs. Avira updates automatically on a daily basis, and does a full scan as well--but I'd recommend a partial scan day-to-day, and save the full one for Saturday. You also need to activate the auto-scan, so be sure to adjust everything to fit your specific needs.

And be aware that not every software on this list is automated. You will need to do some of them manually.