Besides the biggies we all know.... McAfee, Norton\Symantec, etc., what do folks think of the smaller, lesser known (and sometimes free) choices like Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, NOD32, etc?

Granted, these are mostly freeware, but I hear good things about them and some of them have been around for years. A few people I know love the latest version of Avast, so I did some digging and the reviews are great. I'm rebuilding a couple PC's for friends and I want to try one of these.

Experiences?

I worked as part of a Prodigy Services Help (nights & weekend) for 10+ years and was in contact with other Techs who would recommend anti-virus programs and other utilities programs. The most preferred were AVG and Kaspersky, with I have ran both on various machines. Most times without a hitch however there were quirks as in any program. I prefer Norton over the other "Big" names however those two are tops as free anti-virus:thumbsup:

Kev

All of these, Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, NOD32 are well known.

The first two are freebies for home use. I use and recommend NOD32 to my clients and Kaspersky is a solid product also. NOD32 is light on resources.

I would never put a Norton product on my machine. It is a bloated resource hog.

Thanks for info guys.
I put Avast on one machine yesterday and boy does it work well! Almost TOO well. It's my guinea pig machine before I choose something for the second box.