[fluxrad]

[ QUOTE ]

I am not sure who told you AVG is the be all end all, but it just isn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

I told myself AVG was the end all be all after having used it. Although, I'd certainly like to hear your arguments as to why the others you mentioned are superior. I did miss the open source part of the question, however, so I'll go ahead and withdraw my nomination.

The the OP's later question about Linux: I'm a linux system administrator and have been a user since the days of RedHat 5. If you're not that technical, I'd stay away from Linux. It's a phenominal operating system, and one that will eventually be ready for grandma's desktop, but that's not the case right now. For example, simple things like getting a printer working can take hours. If you're feeling adventurous or curious, then by all means install it and play; I'd recommend Suse or Fedora if you're starting out. But if you just like to surf the web or play poker, I'd stick with Windows.