YankeeJim:
I've never personally used anything but Avast AV (free version) myself. Never saw a need to have anything else. :-)
Avast is good, but AV's alone aren't quite good enough... malware is usually coded to get around AV's, and they can change your root settings in the system to what they want...thus the need for something like winpatrol, nothing will be changed until you OK it.....
ALL software phones home so to speak on a regular basis....when infected with viruses or malware(hijackers), they access the net immediately to spread or relay the info obtained from your PC, if you have something like ZA, it uses a popup and notifies you "what" is trying to reach out to the net, but doesn't allow it to do so until you OK it...
My take is anyone who doesn't use them, won't UNTIL they get infected with malware, after they are, they will for sure! After a day or two of getting rid of the infection(and there are some that require a lot more than just running malwarebytes), changing passwords, etc etc, you will see the need...LOL