I thought that the Windows Firewall that is packaged with Vista seemed to work pretty well.

You may want to check out ZoneAlarm and AVG

I also use Spybot S&D, as well as Ad-Aware.

As you previously mentioned, AVG has released a new version which now includes anti-spyware.

Also, thanks to the post from blackazarro, you may want to check out the link he provided to
 Matousec 's Firewall Ratings

Do you actually read any of the posts that you reply to? Or bother to explore the links? Or do you just prefer to be annoying by replying to topics that haven't been posted to in months with a one-line comment?

counter spy is very good and offers a full version free trial for 30 days so you can clean out your machine, AVG is one of the best av out there, it doesnt bog down the system like norton or macafee, and the 8.0 version is very user friendly and does a great job. the built in email scanner is also a nice touch. as long as you surf smart you shouldnt have many problems. I have not had any luck with spybot or ad aware and i usually just take them off machines i work on and put avg on and everyone has been happy