Recommended free anti-virus's, spyware, etc.

[NumbuhInfinity]

I'm thinking of reformatting my computer soon or otherwise delete a bunch of unneeded stuff. So I want to know what FREE anti-virus/-malware and firewalls you recommend, or what programs NOT to use (and why).

Currently I use Avira (aka AntiVir Personal Edition Classic), Spybot: Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware, and Windows Defender. Are those good? Are there any that are just as good or better?

There is Windows OneCare Live, which my brother uses, but it says I have to uninstall other anti-virus and firewall programs. Plus it's a 90-day trial and I didn't want to take the chance it'll stop working after that.

[camper]

For anti-spyware, keep the Spybot and Ad-Aware, I know those, they are good.

As for anti-virus, I don't know what freeware to choose for you. But I'm a commercial user, so I use Norton. But you can continue to use on your freewares, just go to Wikipedia to read each of the anti-virus software's articles, especially I know several freewares like ZoneAlarm, Avast!, NOD32, etc..

But don't choose AVG, that software is too weak, and it can even turn hostile against friendly softwares. I used that before, eventually it can't block many viruses compare to the stronger ones.

I'm not sure about NOD32, but from what I know, it cannot do scanning, blocking and cleaning that quite well. As for Windows Defender, I don't know.

Overall, you decide.