Going to replace my preinstalled McAfee with Avast (free version). How do I go about doing this and what else should I add?

OS: windows 8

I've seen some answers from other sites (can't seem to find the exact answer here) that I should download a program to completely uninstall mcafee, since uninstalling it from control panel doesn't completely uninstall it. Is that true? If so, what is the link and what are the steps I should go about doing this?

I'm just confused about all the layers.

I have firewall and windows defender. What do those do? Do I leave WD on along with avast? Do they do the same thing? What is anti virus exactly and the difference between something like avast and malwarebytes, both of which I will probably install, but just confused why there isn't an all in one free program yet.

I'm also on this subject because conduit search somehow installed itself onto my new laptop. So I removed it from firefox using about:config I believe, but they said to install some other things to completely remove it. I just dislike the idea of having so many things already on my laptop, WD, firewall, mcafee, then going to install avast, malwarebytes, but I still need another one to get rid of this.

 

I usually uninstalled McAfee through Control Panel (and first removed any programs that might be connected to it).

There is supposedly a tool for removing McAfee from the system to make things easier.
You could try searching for it via google. I think its called: McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool (and I think a version for W8 exists).

Windows Defender in Windows 8 is a renamed Microsoft Security Essentials (free antivirus).
It offers basic protection (but more than enough for nearly anyone).

You don't have to use Avast in addition to WD. It can just as easily cause problems with two real-time scanners being active at the same time.
So, if you want to use Avast, then disable WD (or the reverse - I'd just use WD, but the choice is yours).

Other than that, the difference between an antivirus and antimalware (such as Malwarebytes free) is that the latter ( or MBAM for short) has the ability to remove certain things that the AV (paid or free) misses.
MBAM is quite effective, and I personally keep it on my system as a free version for on-demand scanning (when necessary - real-time scanner is not available in free version - and quite frankly, you don't need it).
I also manually update it periodically (once per week or month I think - depends).

As for browsing...
I use Google Chrome with following extensions:
AdBlock Plus
HTTPS Everywhere
Do Not Track

That's enough to quite possibly ensure relatively safe browsing (and there's an extension I think for blocking scripts as well), so if you use Firefox, I think it should have its own equivalents of those extensions (it does have AdBlock after all), but I don't use FF because its apparently relatively sluggish compared to other browsers these days.

 

Ill add to what Deks have said.

The best protection comes from the user that is sitting behind a keyboard. No software will give you 100% protection at all times.

WD is junk on its own, disable it and forget about it.

The rule of thumb is; if you are not sure if you should open it or click on it, then dont. Its better to ask first or to google it.

When you install Adblock Plus, be sure to add ALL filters for all languages/countries, this will insure that most if not all ads are blocked at all times.

 

The best way is to use the McAfee Uninstaller to get rid of all of its remenants

http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe