Since the subject comes up pretty regularly (usually after someone's system gets a dose of malware), I figured I would post this now.
In a nutshell, the editors top picks for pay products are Bitdefender, Norton and Webroot. My own antivirus of choice, AVG, gets their pick as the top rated free product.
PC Magazine: Best Antivirus for 2013
We get Norton for all our machines free with our Comcast Internet. I used to use it way back when, then lost faith in it as it went bloato, but it's back in my good graces again. Superior product.
We do tests like this at work from time to time. There are really two types of malware, the stuff that's been around long enough that the antivirus companies have signatures for it, and the new stuff that they don't have signatures for.
For the older stuff, practically any of the products on that list will do what you need, including the free ones. Most computer security people that I know use Microsoft Security Essentials on their home computers, not for its awesome malware finding and removal capabilities, but because it has a pretty light footprint. Or else they have a Mac.
For the newer, more advanced malware that can't be found by the traditional methods, we found that Kaspersky seems to do the best. Is it enough better than the free ones to make it worth paying for? Probably not unless you're in an environment that's under some sort of ongoing attack. Most of us aren't, and if we are, we're probably taking other measures besides simple antivirus. Those fancy attacks are actually pretty rare.
I used to really like MSE, but it seems to be missing more. I use a suite of MSE, SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes. I am going to switch the kids computers over to McAfee since I get a serious work discount. This is a good link, thanks for posting.
