I use Avast! free home edition. It updates daily. I am happy with it.
I formerly used AVG free home edition, but it started to have conflicts with some of my other software.
I use Avast on one machine and AVG on another. I think you are right about AVG. I like PC Tools for a pay version. You can get a 3 user license for about $30. Norton is a nightmare and is almost impossible to uninstall. Norton is like a virus.
Never use Norton. It drags every system down. MSE is light weight and effective. To top it off, it is free.