My 2 cents 
. I've pretty much tried all of them over the years, between my own pc's (main pc, and a "media center" hooked to the living room tv), doing some IT work at my job, and helping out friends.
First, you get what you pay for. Rarely will a free version protect you as much as a paid for one. Though I have found Avast to be my favorite in that area. Paid for, thats like asking some to choose between a Ford or a Chevy.
I'm not going to go name by name. Some are better at virus, and some stronger at catching malware, though I'll skip to my personal favorite at the moment. Norton 2009. I know the OP says he doesnt like Norton, and neither did I (the older version are resource heavy, updater sucked, etc.), but if you try 2009 I promise you will be suprised. It has a high protection rate of catching virus, a little on the low end for malware though. Very low on resources, and they seemed to of fixed the updating issues. Plus, a lot more control over it than previous versions. I'd say if you already have Norton, go ahead and upgrade to 2009, it would be cheaper than buying a new suite anyway. Plus, since you already have an account, you could even just try it out before buying it.
Just make sure you fully uninstall the old version before the upgrade.
My opinon, and it will propably change by next year, lol, but for now it is what it is.
