Have been a lifelong Avast user but had to switch recently with it constantly shutting down (a known problem) so now with Avira (but have MSE on another laptop).

I use avg

I stared off with Norton for a while then moved to bit defender, gonna have to look over these higher rated options

ESET NOD is the best option. Maybe he doesn't have best virus catch rate, but he's giving best performance to the system and great catch rate.

Bitdefender. Used Kaspersky once it takes so much CPU usage, so switch to Bitdefender.
plus I use malwarebytes free for some extra protection.

I use Avast, it works fine except for the annoying popups (which I have turned off, but then it also won't show important messages)

Bitdefender all the way. Tried a lot of antiviruses but nothing comes close to Bitdefender. It has all you need, Protection on point, doesn't put a lot of strain on your CPU, and overall smooth experience.

Kaspersky is the best but these days you dont need only antivirus but you need antimalware program too.
Antimalware software helps to prevent our PC's from adware, ransomware, spyware and malware etc

I use Avast and I highly recommend it.

For me KIS is enough