Latest Greatest Free Antivirus etc. For Win 7?

I'm *finally* doing my first Window 7 (64-bit) Setup. Right now, it's a native (normal) install, but I'm going to put it in a vm asap.

What are the latest, greatest, *free* apps that I "have to" install on it?

At minimum, I need an antivirus and probably an anti all other malware app. I'll skip the firewall and use the one from windows temporarily. Once it's a vm Linux will provide the firewall.

I used to use avg free until they came out with the release (around a year ago) that killed system performance. Have they mended their ways since then?

I know I'll need revo uninstaller.

On native Windows, I loved System Suite 9 from Avanquest (Vcom), but 90% of it doesn't work in a vm. The feature I really miss was a program that detected new installs and offered to make standard and enhanced checkpoint/restore points. It saved me several times from bungled installs and once from a virus/malware thingy. (Yes, even I fell for the dolphin screen saver.) Is there anything like that available? I'd probably pay money for that!

The other thing I know I'm going to install is Powerdesk 8. I already bought it. It's a religious thing - I've been using PD for around 12 years and can't live without it. (And, after an extremely rocky start on Win 7, I think it finally works right again.) It's a replacement for Windows Explorer and also does a lot more. I've spent a lot of time on their forum and there are a bunch of other users like me who have used it for more than a decade.

Just as background - as usual - I'll be doing everything I can in Linux. The Win 7 vm is going to be used for things like Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred, maybe a scanner program like Omnipage, and anything else I have to have that won't run on Linux.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

TIA

Joe