I've always used AVG free. It's been fine and I've had no complaints really.

I recently heard of microsoft security essentials via newegg. Does anyone use this? Is it decent?

Hey, ability. I've switched from AVG to MSE a few years ago and haven't looked back. It's a good program for scanning files before you open them, especially if you get them from *cough* questionable means. I haven't had a virus on my PC in years, and I attribute that to using noscript on my web browser, seamonkey, combined with addblock to stop all malicious scripts from loading on web pages.

AVG has been more and more obtrusive into my PC and I simply don't like it anymore.

i use avira and i havnt had any problems with it

avast: pros: works great / cons: some issues with battlefield3
avira: pros: file scaning is called "luke filewalker" / cons: random ads popup
AVG: cons: issues with blocked applications

protip#1: use this http://virusscan.jotti.org/en to scan suspicious files
protip#2: use a linux partition(or a virtual machine) to browse internet, it's free and linux is top tier OS

I love Malwarebytes, it's always been good to me. It's recommended by a lot of Techs

A+ Certified tech here, Free A/V's;

AVG: C+
MSE: B+
Avast: C-
Malware Bytes: B-

Overall MSE better overall pick with weekly Malware Bytes scans.

Quoted for truth. This has been my experience.

Sup Drew!