There have been 974 intrusions stopped, 138 have been high rated. Is this normal for 24 hours?
Yep I am currently on 56000 + but they are not getting in

As for AV there any many schools of thought on this and everyone has their preferences. Me I use Avast and have done now for several years and still no infection.
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.htmlI f you install this one it will detect if any Norton is there and throw a hissy fit 'cos it don't like sharing, but if you used the Norton/Symantec tool it shouldn't be a problem. If you install it will come up with a warning about ZA but that relates to the pro version only so just click no. After install it will ask if you want a boot scan (can take up to 20 minutes) just say either yes or no your choice. But you can schedule a boot scan later if you want.
It has seven providers and only use those you need if you need a run around shout (I use standard shield, Web shield and Mail shield only. The other providers use no memory or resources if they are loaded but you are not using P2P, IM, or Outlook (not express)