Regarding antivirus...

[Mallhew]

Norton is a POS.

What's the best (free) security suite out there that won't latch onto my computer and not let go?

here............

[Juno]

Ad-Aware is good Ad Aware Free It's what I use and doesn't do anything to your computer at all in terms of messing with what you want. It checks files when you want and then goes away.

[Deathmonkey7]

Ad-Aware is not antivirus Juno.

I use AVG, it works quite well.
I use ZoneAlarm for firewall
And Ad-Aware 6 for Spyware.
Scratch that, it's Ad-Aware SE Professional

I haven't had a virus for AGES.

[PirateThom]

DICE speaks the truth.

Avast is awesome.

[codenamelenny]

AVG Free for antivirus
Ad-Aware and spybot for spyware and adware.

[Rainbow]

I personally use AVG, works like a charm.

[Power666]

I recommend Antivir from Avira to Windows users for a good anti-virus package. In addition, running SpyBot Seek and Destroy provides another level of protection that the free version of Antvir does not.

In addition, I recommend that they use Privoxy with a custom host file to block ads.

[MasterSword]

I must agree with DICE.

[XCreepingDeathX]

Kaspersky is the best but it costs the moneys (*cough*warez*cough*), so go with Avast.