Seconding the above, also Malwarebytes is good to have as Malware and Spyware are more common than viruses these days.
Especially if your son is into naughty websites!
Don't bother with Norton or McAfee, not only do you have to pay every year for updates, they tend to give the most false positives and they don't play well with firewalls either (in my experience, at least.)
I've got the paid Avast on all my machines, and it's pretty good. It has a feature which checks for common software that's been updated and will notify you to install the update. There's also a 'sandbox' feature which spots if a program does something unexpected or strange when it's installing or running (I pack a lot of my programs using UPX as they frequently start faster, and the first time they run it will sandbox them while it checks they're not nasty).
I'll add Emsisoft Emergency Kit (EEK) to the list. It's not an antivirus program per se, as in it doesn't run on startup, but it's more for attempting to recover or disinfect a system when you've been let down by the standard software. You can also use it double check that a system is clean without needing to install another AV product.
I use Norton's myself. I like to have the top thing, because of what I do, (I do not take care) and they do a great service on the web if you get caught. But it costs quite a bit and if I had to economise would be one of the first things to go.
If you do take reasonable care, the stuff that comes with Windows works fine.
Just a word of warning though. If you do get caught out, they can be a bit tricky to get rid of, and a great nuisance, and you will perhaps be willing to pay a bit to stop it happening.
It depends which version of Windows you have on your son's laptop to a certain extent, but to be totally frank, it doesn't really matter which AV you use, as long as it is unobtrusive, works hand in hand with the firewall, doesn't conflict with any other programs, consumes minimal system resources, is easy to set up default actions, and gives clear messages when warning about possible threats.
I use MSE with W7 for exactly the reasons outlined above and in addition to that everyone's favourite, Malwarebytes free version.
Comments
Free - Avast or AVG
Especially if your son is into naughty websites!
Don't bother with Norton or McAfee, not only do you have to pay every year for updates, they tend to give the most false positives and they don't play well with firewalls either (in my experience, at least.)
I'll add Emsisoft Emergency Kit (EEK) to the list. It's not an antivirus program per se, as in it doesn't run on startup, but it's more for attempting to recover or disinfect a system when you've been let down by the standard software. You can also use it double check that a system is clean without needing to install another AV product.
If you do take reasonable care, the stuff that comes with Windows works fine.
Just a word of warning though. If you do get caught out, they can be a bit tricky to get rid of, and a great nuisance, and you will perhaps be willing to pay a bit to stop it happening.
I've used Microsoft Security for years. It's free. I have never had a virus.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/security-essentials-download
Barclays offer free Kaspersky for online banking customers.
I think Virgin offer a version of F-Secure.
https://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus
I use MSE with W7 for exactly the reasons outlined above and in addition to that everyone's favourite, Malwarebytes free version.