I heard Norton was going out of business at one point, apparently they turned good...
My mum's comp has Norton, it's easy to use, and works well. She does some pcanywhere program bullshit, and connects to her work computer from my house, and she and her work'd get fucked over if they get a virus/someone hacks them (shitload of personal + bank info and that), and apparently Norton was best to get the job done to keep unwanted shit out.
I use ZoneAlarm, some people don't like it, some do, I love it. It works well for me, anyway.