Best antivirus programs?

My girlfriend just bought a new laptop, and it comes with McAffee, but from my experience with it it has caused more headaches than solutions. What are the best antivirus programs out there, both free and paid? And if she needs to get multiple, like an antivirus, anti-malware and spam, etc., what should she get?

I know there's a bunch of articles out there on this topic, but I was hoping to get some more personal responses.