new laptop which anitvirus/spyware &firewall is best?

hello all,
Just bought a new Dell inspirion 15 with windows 7 home OS, currently using the Mcafee for the 30 days free.
I need recommendations to which is the best FREE download for antivirus, spyware and firewall. I use to use ZoneAlarm on my desktop but it slowed everything down. and do not like norton or mcafee since they take up too much memory and have been known to be hacked into.
thanx
Gina

I don't like or recommend ZA to anyone, they made a bad name for themself when they signed the deal with Ask Toolbar.

ZA is kinda heavy on the system too.

As for AV, I like Avira. It's nowhere near what Norton is in terms of how much resources it uses, and has good detection ratings.

is avira have a firewall too? i think i will use malwarebytes for spyware unless you have other reccos.

No, Avira is just an antivirus, but there are better firewalls than ZA. Online Armour for example.

Online Armor Firewall

Online Armor is a great firewall, very good are also PCtools and Comodo.

This might help you decide to find out which is the safest. Which doesn´t quite make it the bets, because customer friendliness is not tested (Online Armor does very wel here).