RE: dirty environments, I guess I’d ask if there:
• Have all the backups been scanned, or end users CD/DVD backups, USB jump drives or floppies?
• Is there AV on the servers (some companies skimp taking a “Client fire-fighting” approach)?
• Are the clients patched with MS updates, the latest AV code & engines & dats or definitions installed?
• How is the networked configured (subnetting, VLANs), is there unprotected WiFi? 
• How is the AV configured w/ default settings OR are advanced settings & heuristics enabled (this is one that can be overlooked)? How is it updated/monitored?
• Is there an effective Internet Filter and/or firewall in the environment?
• Is there a comprehensive, proactive, effective security policy(s) in place?
• Are users Windows administrator level or are the machines locked down properly?
• Are they using IM, file sharing music or using P2P etc?
• Or are they (mgmnt) just “winging this computer(s) & networking thing?”

It’s always difficult to rein in a dirty environment with viruses running around, it can be truly mind bending! If there isn’t a comprehensive approach, might as well NOT  do it at all and just let the bugs run rampant. One of my customers (a few years ago) had a tub (as in 12”’x24” container) of old floppy disks that they saved data on…and had NO AV in the environment! And many of those floppies had an old, poorly written boot sector/CMOS virus on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AntiCMOS. Well, they finally called someone to assist (me), and I had to sit them down and explain how to do things correctly. 

Not to pick on AVG, but AVG’s past detection performance has been terrible, although, current performance (in the last few years) has been much better (they must have some better [or paid even] programmers now). AVG does use less resources also, but missed in the wild viruses (from May 1998 – 2008) has been high, albeit, their "poor performance years" are lumped into that graph.

This is a decent online resource for AV testing (Free registration is required to view the test results): http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=vendors
Decent (+) article on AVG’s v8 package: http://www.virusbtn.com/virusbulletin/archive/2008/03/vb200803-AVG-8

Virus Bulletin Past results:

AVG:  23 Success / 22 Failure / 14 No Entry

ESET: 51 Success / 3 Failure / 5 No Entry
Symantec: 45 Success / 6 Failure / 8 No Entry
Sophos: 42 Success / 15 Failure / 2 No Entry
Kaspersky: 43 Success / 16 Failure / 0 No Entry
McAfee: 36 Success / 20 Failure / 3 No Entry
TrendMicro: 16 Success / 11 Failure / 32 No Entry
Hauri: 1 Success / 11 Failure / 47 No Entry

In my shop at various times (on my two dozen or so PCs/Servers) I use & test AVG, H+BEDV AntiVir, McAfee, ESET, AVAST, Symantec, TrendMicro, CA (etc etc etc) and various anti-spyware and anti-malware tools too. Knowing what is a truly good, competent tool (that is tested professionally in comprehensive tests, like VB bulletin does), and just “using” an anti-malware tool on one or two PCs are very different things. It sounds like you are an “atypical” user (you are well informed and careful). I think one of the issues with Windows and security (besides the onslaught of malware that's aimed at the 90% Windows marketshare) is that Windows users are NOT well informed or apathetic (Linux/MAC folks have their opinions too I'm sure). Yes Symantec is a resource hog, (horrible if you have slow hardware) and it can be a p.i.t.a. to UN-install, but, on the other hand its’ detection has been very good for years (though can be expensive). McAfee has also been a resource hog as well. ESET has one of the better records for detection and also uses very low resources, and has a revised GUI (much better than the complex one that had a year or so ago).

Yes the trend is toward all-in-one Security Suites that protect against viruses, worms, spy/ad-ware, trojans, bots; incorporate firewall, anti-spam and privacy protection too. Having one tool do it all - that's a real challenge though.

Your comments are most informative,About a year back I shifted to a new firm where it was an enterprise which was completely on Symantec Antivirus Clients.Most machines were plagued with Viruses and other problems.So I tried AVG on a couple of the machines.And it had a massive impact on improving performance(especially speed and ability to catch viruses).Also, I have been actively studying security in the background for quite some time.And I noticed that Symantec tends to slow down your PC the most.Its something that even Businesseek and Symantec themselves admit.

  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_33/b4096060672925.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

 I am not sure different users will have different experiences but my experience atleast with regards to AVG is completely positive.

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

 I have since also come across a lot of Security Literature which talks how Malware writers target/circumvent  Anti-Virus systems.And Symantec,Trend-micro and McAfee feature at the top of all Malware Authors lists.Unsurprising really,since most Users use these three systems and now AVG is also catching up with them,obviously AVG will be increasingly targetted.

 But I also like the GFI solution-they combine two or more Anti-Virus Solutions together to gain maximum coverage and scanning ability.There is no doubt that no single Anti-Virus solution is going to catch all the Viruses all the time.

 Best regards

Ashish.

Cookies are pretty harmless depending on how they work and who has your online habit information logged, stored or sold somewhere. People debate the "privacy" issues of cookies. Anti-spyware products regularly flag them as "finds" or "urgent items" to take care of. See: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie5.htm

With windows machines (I'm not a nixer, or an OpenSorcerer) - what you mentioned that you do is not crazy at all, in fact, you're actually quite sane (I’d probably see you at the meetings if you were on this side of the pond). Most people don’t give this a second thought. You cannot be too careful. I NEVER use a PC that I am not familiar with to access my personal information (webmail, banking etc) whether it be a friends PC, a PC in the hotel lobby or in an Internet Cafe etc. Why even take the chance? If I travel, I take my craptop. You may want to use an online scanner on unfamiliar PCs before you log into your personal accounts on them.

Knowing what anti-virus tools are good, what is installed, whether or not it’s even a current supported and patched version of the AV software and knowing if it’s definitions are up to date can be all you need to check before you use it. That’s a very complicated task for most end users though. Often they don’t even know if their AV is expired (mind boggling to me). Generally if I see a machine with a quality tool on it like NOD32, Symantec, TrendMicro, Kaspersky etc, it gives me more confidence to use it than something with AVG on it. Refer to Vbulletin to read up on AV: http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=tests. Free registration is required to view the test archives.

Online Anti-malware scanners  (in case you do NOT want to install a local software tool):

TrendMicro Housecall: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

BitDefender: http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html 

Panda: http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/

Kaspersky: http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

McAfee: (via PC Pitstop): http://www.pcpitstop.com/freescan/default.asp

CA Online scan: http://ca.com/us/securityadvisor/pestscan/

Other good online scanners that scan, but do NOT clean:

Symantec:  http://security.symantec.com

ESET Nod32: http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

Is it just me or do a lot of security Professionals worry about the cookies on a web broswer?Everytime I use a new/friends windows PC I end up first searching if it has Firefox with NoScript and the IP Geolocation Bar ,check if Anti-Virus is updated( I even check the history log...) and finally download Adwanced windows care Personal and scan the PC .[Its also typical that I find a couple of trojans or downloaders routinely on those PCs] and when I am done I proceed to clear Private Data when I am done.

It sounds crazy but maybe I really am paranoid when I comes to security of my information.

My dear mum says the more you know about something the more you tend to worry about it.Is that the case?The ground reality is that ,Typical websurfers(especially the Facebook generation) are not as deeply concerned about the safety and sanctity of their Personal Information as  Security pros are.

And then,I hear about Microsoft's new plan to install a Private Mode(See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7574265.stm) on web browsers.
Is that the right way to go about this?What do readers think?

Personally,being a fan of Open source Software( I love going through the code)
I would'nt trust a black box system which does something without me seeing what it is,but what do you guys think?Would that be something which would appeal to a majority of websurfers out there?Or would it just be a matter of time before some malicious attacker reverse engineers this Private Mode and sneaks in code of their choice in( The iPhone and their Kill switch anyone?). Its great hearing what
readers on this awesome website have to say.