According to a readers’ poll being done by http://www.about.com these are the finalists sorted by category and their current position within each category (poll will still continue until early March):

Best Internet Security Suite: This is usually the top product of a security company. It includes antivirus, firewall, protection against spam, and other niceties. The finalists for this category are, in current order:  ESET Smart Security (49%), Comodo Internet Security (36%), Kaspersky Internet Security (8%), Norton Internet Security (4%), Panda Global Protection (2%). I agree with these results, except I would place Norton in last place if it was up to me.

Best Windows Antivirus: This is a program that has the usual protection against viruses, traditionally a step down from the full Security Suite – some features the Security Suite version normally has are not enabled. The finalists for this category are, in current order: VIPRE Antivirus (61%), ESET NOD32 Antivirus (20%), ZoneAlarm Antivirus (7%), Avira Antivir Premium (6%), Norton Antivirus (4%). I agree with these results, and in fact my personal choice for my own computers has been VIPRE Antivirus Premium for over a year now.

Best Free Antivirus: As the above category, but usually the free versions have even less functionalities enabled. The finalists for this category are, in current order: Avast! antivirus (30%), Microsoft Security Essentials (25%), AVG free (15%), Panda Cloud Antivirus (11%). I agree with these results, although I would place AVG in last place if it was up to me.

Remember, the above traditional security programs are only one layer of a complete security setup, as covered in my article on the subject. So even if you have the best of the top category, your security setup will not be complete.