Infections when top AV Installed?

No antivirus should serve as a front line of defense, no matter how good the tests are. Not only there's the fact that they can't catch up with malware, if a legitimate program is exploited it's very likely that the AV won't detect the threat.

IMO the order should be something like:

- Firewall (COMODO is great);
- Kernel protection (EMET?);
- Unpriviledged account;
- UAC at Max;
- HIPS (COMODO again)
- Sandbox (COMODO again);
- Up-to-date OS;
- AV (Avira has the best scanner);

 

The answer to the question asked in this thread is readily available.

Download the recent test results for AV protection from each of the AV labs that do retail product testing. Select your "top tiered AV manufacturers" e.g. Symantec, Kapersky, Eset, etc.. Average the results of all the lab tests by manufacturer. Post your ranking results.