How do I know what kind of anti-virus/security software to buy?

McAfee and Symantec each have a slew of different products, and I am tempted just to buy the cheapest. How do I know if that's enough protection? I don't download a lot of stuff, but I do shop online.

How do I know what kind of anti-virus/security software to buy?malware

I like PCTOOLS products, go to pctools.com

How do I know what kind of anti-virus/security software to buy?norton 360

I like AVG and it's free.
Then you would want something that will give you full protection, my sister in law got a copy of McAfee and that was hard to set up and not so easy to use, I think that symantec 360 would be good or a Trend Micro product they have some good features which will help protect you while you are shopping online
Although perhaps not the ''best'' anti-virus, there is a free opensource antivirus known as Clamwin.

http://www.clamwin.com/

It is rather slow and can take a few hours on a large drive. It doesn't do scans on downloads which is a nice feature to have, but you won't get it from clamwin.

Additionally, you can throw in something like spybot, and adaware into the mix and you should be ok.

For home use, it should be enough.
most virus are spread through IE. IE is not a safe browser.

you should use a more secure browser to protect your PC from virus. i recommand you to use firefox with Google toolbar.

firefox can block any any popup and disable any virus and adware, spyware on webpage, so, firefox is much safer than IE browser.

as you know, most of virus spread throught internet and webpage.

besides, firefox is much smaller than IE, so it run faster than IE. download firefox for free, Just have a try:

http://www.seconddoor.net/firefox/

Good Luck !