As said already - MBAM for periodic on-demand scans.
The best security is however to be smart what you download and which sites you visit.

This, but you do not need two machines. Just install ubuntu on your machine, assuming you have a partition for that available. Ubunto live CD will automatically install GRUB2 and you will have a dual boot machine without breathing hard. I only boot into Windows if I need to play poker. For www surfing I boot into Ubuntu and do not need to worry about ANYTHING WHATSOEVER.

The one and only time I did the above, the Windows partition blew up the Linux partition (it was probably user error). Since then, I've always thrown Linux on the best spare box I had. I'm getting ready to build a new box, I'll try dual booting again.

Thanks again guys for helping out. An overall helpful and positive experience in this sub-forum.

Ultimately I'm not angry about having to wipe my HD and start over. Seems like I kind of got something good out of it because my system really needed this kind of cleansing in a way.

Will try some of the suggested methods for preventitive options.

Using a vmware/virtualbox for potential risk software and websites has always worked for me.
Also beeing aware about how malware is spread is not bad to prevent getting infected.

I see you are all set now, but in regards to your first post you mentioned you ran AVG and Norton. AVG is fine, but Norton is garbage. And in most cases you should not have two different AVs installed as it will cause problems.

Norton Internet Security is pretty solid

Based on his post I assumed he meant Norton AV. I'm probably wrong though and I'll fully admit to being biased against Norton.

Norton AV is something I would indeed not recommend over a free alternative.