Semi-new here, software recommendations threads?

Hi,

About a year ago I used the instructions on these forums to do a complete cleanup of my laptop and then on my mother's computer while visiting them, and it was great to have the detailed instructions and links.

I came back this time to do the same thing on an old laptop (running Windows XP) that my kids have been using which got really slow recently. I'm not looking for any specific diagnosis - just running through the same instructions.

However, I've noticed that even though there are great instructions, and appears to be great individualized help for people who need it, that there aren't any regular threads with recommendations on antivirus software. There are lists, and each time I've come here, I download one of those, usually the one that appears to be "hottest", but I'm wondering if there's a thread or website with a nice comparison and recommendations. It appears that just about every resident antivirus monitor will slow somebody down sometime. I've personally seen it with Mcafee, Norton, AVG, and Comodo. I'm trying out Avast now on the kids' laptop, since that seems to be hot, but it also keeps pestering me about installing an "enhanced" version each time I startup.

So I'm not asking for recommendations here, since this is the "say hello" forum, but if anyone has a pointer to a good thread or web site, I'd appreciate it.
-Treb.