Compuvision

I'm a believer in Norton's Anti-Virus program.  It works for me.  It gets slower and more bloated every year for a couple of years at a time until Symantec is shamed into reworking it into a smaller, faster program.  Then the cycle starts all over again.  For a free alternative, I'd try Microsoft's Security Essentials program.

Since I have Comcast, I install it's free version of the Norton Security Suite with backup turned off.  I then install Norton SystemWorks (Standard Edition) 2009.  (Becuase of the Comcast thing, I don't need it's Anti-Virus, but I would install it at this time if I did need it.)  The important part of NSW is the Norton System Doctor program in the Norton Utilities.  I'll install the other Norton Utilities, but not Norton Clean-up, Performance Test and Check-It Diagnostics.  Run Live Update right away and screen print Help About to save your Product Key.  Screen Print the window with Shift-Alt-PrtSc, paste it into Paint and save it as "NSW2009 - MachineName - Windows _.bmp" (where _ is the version of Windows that you are currently installing).  The Anti-Virus subscription expires after a year, but the ability to use Norton System Doctor continues forever.  Also keep in mind that if you have bought a "3-pack", the updates for all three potential installs of Norton Anti-Virus stop at the same time (usually a year after the first copy was installed).

Real Important - eMail that picture with your Product Key to a web-based,  keep-it-forever eMail account.  (i.e. GMail, HotMail, etc.)  Now, keep that message forever on the web.  If you ever need to reinstall your product again in the future, you probably can get a copy of the installation program again.  You probably cannot just use someone else's Product Key.

I'll post my settings file for Norton System Doctor.  I have it doing quick, useful things like monitoring the health of my internet connection.  At this point, the default setup does almost nothing.  Originally, NSD did extremely stupid things like checking for disk fragmentation every hour, thus earning itself a very bad reputation for slowing your system down.

The assumption is that if you need an Anti-Virus program for Windows Server, then there's a good chance that you might have viruses and a lot of money.  The software industry offers a number of ways to help you get rid of both.

Because of the second assumption, consumer versions of Norton Anti-Virus, Microsoft Security Essentials, etc. won't run on Windows Server.  If, like myself, you are only running Windows Server in order to test out your own software, then it's probably not worth the price to buy a Windows Server version of an Anti-Virus program.

My alternative solution is to do as little web browsing as possible directly on my server machines and to occasionally reboot them to Windows XP or Windows 7, get all of the updates for Windows and it's anti-virus program, then run a virus scan against the Windows Server partition.

Unfortunately, we are all basically stuck using Adobe's Flash program as a part of using the internet.  As of 2010, security researchers have been reporting more security holes in Adobe products like Flash and Reader than in Windows itself.  While there are alternatives to Reader, there aren't any for Flash.  Here's a coupple of hints - if any website tells you tha Flash needs to be updated, do not click anywhere to download a new version - many viruses are distributed that way.  Instead, reboot your computer and if you really need a Flash update, it will tell you before you go to any webpage via a message box from Adobe that pops up during your startup.  If that happens, you probably really need a new version of Flash.

Unfortunately, it doesn't end there.  Since mid-2010, Adobe has been sneaking in something called "McAfee Security Scan Plus" when you download updates to Flash.  Maybe they are trying to fight the Flash-caused security problems, but it's much more likely that they are making a commision on every copy of McAfee that they push and a bigger commision when users "upgrade" to a paid version of McAfee.  Here's what to watch out for:

Yes, you have to UNCHECK that box at the top, which is checked by default and positioned out-of-the-way.  By contrast, most of the crap that gets bundled with some of the programs that I do recommend require you to make a Yes/No choice before they get thrust upon you.  (They rely on the fact that most people will just choose Yes to everything without reading about what they are doing first.)