I have some issues as of late with malware and I'm working them out. After I get it resolved I need to take steps to see that it does not reoccur.
I have tried several different types of free software and it seemed just when you think your protected, something pops up.
My pc now logs me off as soon as I log on, apparently it's more difficult to fix than I originally thought.
I figured you must have your privacy settings fairly low based on your statement about cookies, and you seem somewhat knowledgeable regarding these things....just wanted another opinion.
We have two Vista PC's and two XP PC's, our ISP is Verizon...using IE 8 or 9 on all of them. Cookies are set to medium security.
About McAfee and Norton, used both of those for a time, found them to work ok but was VERY hard to remove all traces of their software in order to try another brand. AVG worked well on Vista, but on XP it wasn't very useful, Firewall kept going down. Webroot worked OK on both versions of Windows but sometimes failed to block malware such as fake security software, names like "Antivira Pro" would get thru and I would have to send queries to Webroot and update to latest software version. A real PIB.
Changed over to Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 early this year, love it, works in the background and when it blocks a threat it just gives you a tiny notice, unlike Webroot which practically screamed out loud "Hey look we blocked this threat".....
For what it is worth it costs me about $13 per PC for one year of Kaspersky ISS, I buy a CD from an Ebay seller, costs about $40 for a 3 PC package.
Kaspersky is one of the best at fixing computers with existing malware, I will probably pay a higher price to renew next year than $13 per PC, but IMO it is the best of it's type. "Free" security software is worth about what you pay for it....