Norton anti-virus

[Evenreven]

I have what might be a stupid question...

I'm not used to PCs anymore - Mac guy - but I'm planning on getting a PC soon. Should I buy Norton anti-virus to go with it? I can get it for a decent price, so I ask the windows people, how big is the risk? Does Norton get everything you don't want? Or are there other things that will affect security more, like choice of browser, firewall, or e-mail client?

Thanks in advance.

[Five]

NO!

get AVG antivirus for free, I've been using it for several years and it is excellent. I've seen many ppl posting that they love it too, and that it is better than Norton.

grisoft.com

[saltman]

I like AVG also. If I was gonna buy one I'd use F-secure. It's not AS big of a resource hog as Norton's products. IMO. if you're a semi-educated computer user (meaning you don't randomly click on trojan.exe in an email) an antivrus is not needed. The crucial thing is a firewall and a free anti-spyware program..
Been using PCs for many many years and have NEVER had a virus.

[Evenreven]

Thanks a lot for stopping me.

What about the browser and e-mail clients? Do they matter much? I will probably share the computer with another person, should I be strict with her about using Firefox and Thunderbird?

About anti-spyware: is Lavasoft Ad-Aware the one to get?
What's a good firewall setup? Is the XP firewall bogus or usable?