I'm also a user of Nod32 for the past 2 or 3 years with absolutely no complaints or problems like other antivirus software I've used.
Anyone who uses 'anti-virus' software is a fucking idiot.. no offence.. If you have any computer knowledge, you just don't go to stupid sites, or open shit that's from an unknown source.. It's in the 'anti-virus' business model to keep you fighting viruses.. Who do you think produces them? People with big ego's in Romania? I wonder who writes their checks...
Would you mind posting your list of "stupid sites" (whatever that means). Mines probably outdated. The OP said he has six PC's and his wife and kids use them. Unless his kids are trading on dedicated daytrading/scalping computers and connecting only to their broker/charts/data, I'd say they probably should use AV software.
I guess I am lucky...I have not had any issues with browsing speed and have been on 8 for two weeks now. No issues, everything is the same as before.
Check this yahoo answer link out. They posted some good free Antivirus, spyware and ad-ware protection there: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071222191205AAunc8y Don't use Norton as the software requred a lot of resources ( memory and CPU capacity) from your computer which will essentially slow down the whole system. I personally recommend these free and reliable software: Spybot - search and destory 1.5X version ( I am currently using) AVG antivirus 7.5 (i am using this) or 8.0 Lavasoft Adware Personal (I am currently using it) But I do recommmend you to search for a good additonal software for "malware" which may slip into your system even when you have all the software above on. With my limited knowledge about the computer and MS window, I could manage to manually locate and delete the harmful files in the last two event. I have tried to find a good and free Trojan, malware protection software but failed. So, I do plan to buy one from store or online... Good luck.
AVG made my computer unbootabale. Forunately I could restore the system to the point before AVG. So be careful about cheap sw and different recommendations.
I will add one more CcCeaner http://www.ccleaner.com/ This is also free, or you can donate with Paypal. It cleans up all your registry, cookies, old history etc.
Having put many hundreds, maybe thousands of copies of AVG on home users computers in recent years - I now have changed to Avira Antivir. Version 8 of AVG has gone the way of bloat and the seed of the idea that your system resources are theirs to control is growing. It is not too bad yet, still a good program that will slow you down just a bit more. But the way they are defensively arguing on their web forums against some of their customers that at least want the option of disabling bloat, does not bode well. Norton and Mcafee were once good programs.... Avast is OK also but bigger memory footprint and requires annual registration. Antivir has a better detection rate, and uses less resources. Avira are technically excellent while being marketing idiots. By which I mean their program has a popup every time you update. All over the web you will read this as just about the only criticism. But there is an easy way to fix it here: http://www.elitekiller.com/files/disable_antivir_nag.htm I even found an obscure one click fix program that I use everywhere but can't find the URL where I got it from.... Lastly, don't be concerned about the lack of email scanning in the free version - email scanning is actually useless: http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm I have done a full post here with cleanup instructions if you have problems: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=115313&perpage=6&pagenumber=5 Checkout the next page 6 also for a PS. Once cleaned up, Avira, Spybot, a router (as a firewall) and the built in Windows fiirewall are all an ordinary user who is just a bit careful what he clicks on, needs. I and most of my customers find the latest 1.5 version of Spybot a pain as it always wants to be in your face. I prefer 1.4, turn off the SD Helper, and scan every week or any time you are concerned. By the way I run 9 (nine) computers in my own large household with exactly this setup - Limewire (keyword filtered) and torrents running constantly - and no virus problems.