I don't have great computer skills and don't understand much of the lingo either. My problem is my Dell PC came with McAfee installed on it and it has expired. I received a renewal notice from them I have also been considering Norton.

My question is the McAfee offer is for their security center which for one price offers their Virus scan, personal firewall plus, spam killer, and privacy service. From what I've gathered with Norton you have to buy all these seperate. Is that correct?

I am looking for advice and recommendations on what I need to go with.

you need some sort of protection, and both are good products from good companies.

If you choose to go with symantec (norton) the comparable product is called "norton internet security" It includes everything the McAfee suite does, HOWEVER, your Dell probably has Windows XP, which with service pack 2 has a reasonable firewall built in, along with a popup blocker. If you do anything with yahoo or google, they have downloadable explorer toolbar that includes a popup blocker too.

One of the best things you can do to protect your new computer is either to turn on automatic updates, or periodically visit microsofts update site (there is a link in the start/programs menu to do this)

Another good freebie is ADAWARE from http://www.lavasoft.com (look hard and find the free adaware se download, they hide it a bit.

Ditto to what Jim said, and on top of that if you are using a broadband connection with a router make sure that you have its firewall on for port blocking, etc...

Like Jim said, there are a lot of freebies out there that go a long towards keeping your system safe and clean. I install both Ad-Aware and Spybot on every system I build. Spybot also has a real-time agent that runs behind Internet Explorer to block bots and trojans from being downloaded through the browser.

Run both once a week (or more often if you frequent the naughty sites:-) and you should be okay.

I also recommend Firefox for a browser as it doesn't have as many security holes as IE, and has some nice features that IE doesn't.

Here are the direct links to the downloads:

Ad-Aware (http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=pop)

Spybot (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1)

Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/)

Kevin

I deal with these everyday in my work.
Joe public...ease of use, effectiveness KAV or McAfee virus scanner
Make sure all Symantic programs are uninstalledbefore loading the new.
The only occassion I use Symantic is enterprize versions on commerical file mail servers and networked machines.
Make sure windows is kept upto date with patches...2nd tues of each month.
Update virus scanners once a week (KAV issue 2x daily updates)
The firewall, for home use...The Windows XP sp2 firewall has come a long way from inseption
If u need to check for spyware, changes, browser hijacking
Use MS withows defender on XP sp2..its not tops, its not useless either.
It is worthwhile getting familar with a free prog hyjackthis...(google it)
It will pick up everything...get familar with it. It will fix most, or at least u will be able to tell what is causing the problem if it cant.
Some of these can be tricky to Joe Public to remove, the other progs will not either..but they can be manaully.
There is another prog also..if browses get hyjacked it is able to remove a huge list of them CWShredder.
There is a falicy that virus scanners will remove a virus if it has run..well sort of...if u are going to install a program,,,u run the setup file, then after u can delete the setup file...the virus is the set up file...if u want to uninstall your program, the install also includes a file as to what needs to be removed in windows reg files etc....A virus doenst have an uninstall file! The virus scanner doesnt uninstall it either.
So it either has to be done manually, or, most virus scanner sites provide an 'uninstall' file for it.
Virus scanners Also can not remove a file (virus) from inside a achrived file (like inside a .zip file) It will detect it, ring bells and wave a few messages in front of u lol
If u find where your email files are, u will see all the "inbox" is one file etc...these are also archived files. If u are told there is a virus in x email in y mail box....highlight it and press Shift+del this removes the email by passing the rubbish bin.

One can argue over which is best etc etc...today x is best, y releases a new version its the best, and neither are that far behind each other for Joe Public to worry about...except I do notreconmend Symantic...thats over 15 yrs of fixing repairing machines.
The more u have running in the background, checking every file u and Windows opens the slower yout machine will run, espec laptops.
It is not uncommon where someone thinks there machine is slow because it has been compromised...when it turns out they have so many adware, spybot, virus scanners, firewall progs running.....put 2 tons on the back of your camaro and see if it would slow down...
Bottom line u want the best get a hardware firewall, cisco router..and spend a few months at night school figuring out how to turn it on.

The above is a little over simplified... hope u grasp the concepts and find it helpful