I use Norton 2005 and 2006, and while it is a resource hog, it does a good job. I have seen numerous counts of Norton not finding spyware or a virus on a system, while another program like AVG does find it, however I have never ever seen that to be the case (yet).

AVG is pure crap from what I have seen. I have run both on infected systems and Norton did a better job of cleaning things out.

AVG is free of course (although they have pay versions) and it IS better than NO protection.

I am also testing Windows Live OneCare on Vista RC2 right now, and it seems to work pretty well.

I am not going to intensionally get a virus to see how it performs, but it has everything in a nice neat package. You can even run a tuneup that will scan for viruses, clear out unneeded files (like temp stuff), defrag your HD if needed, backup files you set to be backed up, and check MS for critical security updates.

I think OneCare is the major reason these AV vendors are pissed at Microsoft. Because being that onecare is an MS product it will have access to whatever it needs to, while the other vendors will be left out in the cold.

However if MS uses this PatchGuard, and keeps it updated well against possible intrusions, then the need to actually hook into the kernel to prevent such attacks might not be as important as it was before?