Recommended antivirus?

Originally Posted by Cam

Common sense > antivirus. Saves a lot of resources.
I've been virus and antivirus free for 3 years, exept that time that my FUCKING MP3 PLAYER came with one.

I have to second this one. In part because I'm a Mac user and thus somehow entitled to be a smug asshole, but even on my Windows box I've had no need for AV software.

I've been thinking about getting an AV app, and was about to start this very same thread myself, but I keep going back and forth between "I'm an InfoSec specialist and I should know better" and "I've been fine so far, why bother?" Also of concern is that I'm working on an unattended XP install and don't want to look up yet another set of silent install switches, unattended-friendly versions, etc. Not to mention that commercial/for-pay software is out of the question as I know of no way to automate the unattended application of cracks.

I do consider firewall software to be a slightly different story--not so much to keep unfriendlies out (I'm already behind a nice high-end hardware firewall) but rather because every fucking app under the sun these days wants to phone home and report god-knows-what bullshit back to its corporate masters and a software "application warden" style firewall is a nice way to smack them down and say "no soup for you." Of course CheckPoint decided to remove key unattended functionality from the free version of ZoneAlarm so it's even harder for me to integrate it into my hands-off install. Fuckers.

Sorry to 'jack the thread, but on a related note to the author's inquiry, anyone know of a good freeware firewall that doesn't have 10,000,000 nag screens, "special limited-time offers," and other crap that would impede a smooth unattended setup?

Jam it back in, in the dark.