Opinion on anti-virus freeware

I had my PC in the shop last week, and the technician asked what kind of AV program I was using. When I told him AVG free version, he told me, "That does nothing, you need to get something like Norton or MacAfee". I currently have all freewares for antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall (as recommended by this site), and I think they do a damned good job. Does anybody have opposing opinions against these freewares?

 

I thought so at first too, but this shop does not sell any softwares of any kind. So, I assume it was just an "opinion" on his part - as they say everybody's got one.

 

one thing i would say about norton or mcafee, for the novice user and naive web clicker, those programs might provide a better all-in-one solution rather than having to piece together a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc...
no, i wouldn't recommend anyone using these, but i guess something is better than nothing.