But everything is free on the net. You just need to know where to look

I'm well aware of that, I just like to avoid unnecessary bloat on my PC to help things run smoothly.
I've also heard that Ghostwall is a better firewall than ZoneAlarm and it's 100% free. Haven't got round to testing it yet though.
A/V, Nod32 is great, finds everything, runs quickly, doesn't get in the way at all.