bmwgsa wrote:
As to the AV, I'd go with AVG (Free AVG)

As to Linux, think long and hard on this one.

Linux does a lot, and you can't beat the price - but there are a lot of assorted issues:

Drivers: some just don't exist. You might have a multi-mode printer (scan/fax/print), and no driver (or software to use it). Linux does have some programs for that, but no driver is a problem, and the software might not interface correctly to the printer if the driver does exist.

Applications: There are some you'll never see in a Linux world. For example, Photoshop (or Creative Suite). Now, Linux does have "The GIMP" and a few other programs for graphics work, but you're off on a whole different track (and I personally don't like "The GIMP").

Games: If you're a gamer (I'm referring to running from the PC and not online games) then Linux is probably NOT for you

Music creation: If you use software sequencers and synths then Linux is NOT for you. Keep in mind that there are some synth programs for Linux, but they're not at the level of Reason, Abelton, Cakewalk and the like... And you might have MIDI driver issues (and a USB instrument could be a lot of fun to get working)

Application Programming: Depends on the language you're wanting to work in - so Linux might not be for you. It's a great environment for the open source languages or the interpreted languages (Java, PHP, CGI) - but if you want to play with VB, VC, VC++ and such - well; good luck...

Application Support: Linux is mostly user supported. That's both the beauty and curse of the system. If something doesn't work the way you want, you can always download the code and fix it yourself, or try and find whoever wrote it and get them to fix it - or worse, you "love" a certain program and whoever wrote it just got tired of it and moved on. Now, free is free and you can only expect so much for free - but it's something to always keep in mind, what you like may now ever get upgraded or may never be re-compiled to a newer version of the OS....

Now, In defense of Linux.....

You get a free Web Server
You get a free E-Mail server
You get the ability to cluster multiple PC's together (clustering)
You get the ability of multi-user without all the licenseing crap the Microsoft or Citrix put's you thru (I like VNC Viewer!!)
Nearly all applications for Linux are free

So, I would advise getting a second "el-cheapo" PC together and load Linux, see if it's your thing and you can live with it - if you can, go for it, if not you're out a few hours of your time.