Moxnix, excellent tut. Just a few personal opinions of my own:

As for firewalls, Agnitum Outpost Pro is well worth the money I paid for it. The free edition is decent, but I would highly recommend spending the money ot get Pro for the benefits. I also use the free version of Sygate's firewall (on a buddies computer) which is also very good.

As for AV's, I no longer recommend free antivirus products based on my own personal experiences with AVG (free edition) and Avast! (free edition) (both consistently missed viruses in comparison to paid versions of professional AV's not to mention, poor reviews and/or inconsistent track records in just about any AV comparison magazine/website I checked out). While it's great that these guys are offering free AV's, they simply don't compare to spending the cash to get a good AV, like Bit Defender (which you mentioned), PC-Cillan, NOD32, NAV, etc. The only way I would recommend free AV's is if it's a last resort and you have no cash to buy anything better. Again, it should be a last resort, imo (a free AV is better than nothing at all).

That's my input on the matter.