Many of the vendors use the same engines so much of anyone's deliberations on this should be based on how quickly updates appear. As all major AV companies work together to identify new pieces of malicious code (they realised a while back that trying to withold information is ultimately detrimental to users) then the back-room workings are something to consider. To this end I personally use Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm Security Suite, and install AVG into friends machines by default when they come asking for repairs. Although AVG is free don't forget that one of the restrictions is that it will only perform one update per day - normally fine but in intensive periods this can put you at risk if you're unlucky.
I've previously used McAfee and Norton and neither will ever feature on a machine in my house again. Norton is horribly invasive and resource hungry, and at one point was simply not compatible with Windows due to a pathetic amount of pre-launch testing. As for McAfee I find it is comparitively slow to deliver updates. Another one to look at by the way is Trend Micro who provide quite a decent suite for home users.
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