I sampled the free trials of the top 5 or so Internet security suites - they all have those free trials.
It really helps to sort out which program workers best for you and your machine.

I do suggest having at least 1 gig of Ram or more if you are able to add it -1 gig ram around here is as low as 20.00 now.

The nice thing about getting the suites is that it covers so much instead of having 3 - 5 separate programs.

I ended up liking the Zone Alarm suite best.
This year they offered a free upgrade to the extreme version, so that was really nice.

With 30 day or so trials on each you can cycle though each brand till you find the one you like best.

here's the sticky thread with some freebies suggested and more -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread4535.html

I would only download any freebies from a site like cnet.com or other well known safe site.
cnet link to security suites page - you can click "free" on the left to show only those -
http://download.cnet.com/1770-2023_4...dows&tag=ltcol