Just got an S96J, what should I put on it?

Like the title states, I just got my new notebook, an asus s96j. Now I need to set it up/customize it. With that in mind, I have a couple questions.
I plan on installing firefox, first and foremost. Beyond that...?
I've been looking at the various anti virus programs, and can't decide. Many people seem satisfied with AVG or avast, yet they don't rank well in detection rates and similar tests. I'm not opposed to spending money, since this will be my college computer, and thus needs to be running. So I guess I've narrowed it down to AVG, Avast, kaspersky, Nod32, and bitdefender.
I'll probably install Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and CCleaner anyway, so maybe a lesser a/v will suffice?

Second, any notebook utilities I should look at? I haven't really played around much on my laptop yet, so don't really know what I'm looking for, if I'll need it, etc.

Third, a good media player. Currently I use winamp for music on my desktop, I might keep that. But asus's supplied dvd player apparently sucks, so I'll want a different one.

Anything else you think I should have?

Thanks for your help

 

Sonique is the best audio player, IMO. As for media player, I just use Media Player Classic with Real, WMP, and QT plug-ins and the K-Lite Codec Pack and I love it. AVG, Ad-Aware, and Spybot are essential, I also use Tracks Eraser Pro.

 

Go for Bit defender, Nod32 or Kaspersky. I heard that if you get the kaspersky suite, it eats lots of system resources. So I'd say Nod32 or Bitdefender. Avast and AVG do a great job for free, but they don't have the highest detection rates. Ad-aware, Spybot S&D are great choices. I love CCleaner.. frees up lots of room on your HD. Windows Media Player 11 is supposed to be very good. Make sure you get a firewall, like Comodo, which is supposed to be good.

 

check out the sticky at the top of this forum for some ideas.

I have AVG, Zonealarm, Ad-Aware and Spybot for protection. Other apps: 7zip, Cablenut, CCleaner, Flashget, Spyware balster, Tune XP and VideoLAN VLC.

 

Might consider Comodo Firewall, which is free.

I use AVG and have been very pleased with it. In fact, I called Earthlink yesterday, and spoke with a tech. Their software was causing conflicts for me.

When I told the tech I was using AVG and didn't want Earthlink's AV software, he told me that he uses AVG as well, and has for years. He stated that it's probably one of the best Anti Virus programs as far as using small amount of resources, and working very well.

 

i use spybot, ad aware and windows defender for antispyware. avast for av and comodo for firewall. i say stick with winamp for audio files and get media player classic for video files. if you im alot, get trillian. i would also get a registry cleaner like regscrub and get tunexp too.