I have zonealarm. Closing that with Enditall lasts 20-30 seconds, so I close it manually (the scanner tries to protect itself, that's why it lasts so long doing it via EIA).
I run AntiVir PE, this application protects itself so well against external manipulation that I also have to deactivate the guard manually.
I wouldn't consider this to be annoyances, Drebbel, but as cool features that tell me that both tools work as intended and will not surrender too easily to manipulation from "outside"!
Oh, and I back Shad43 on what he said about Symantec. Next time you do a system reinstall, leave it out and replace it with something different. You can manage to get a good Firewall and AntiVir FOR FREE, and no futher license fees every full year.
This AntiVir dominates the German market since years. By experience I can tell that it is absolutely reliable.
http://www.free-av.de/
The best protection sits inside your head. Don't visit questionable sites. Don't have all and every activeX and Java switched on. Keep Explorer settings as tight as possible. then even a free Firewall like zonealarm is sufficient. Mybe I am paranoic, but I serve quite a lot - the reward is I have less than 2-3 alarms from system scanning per year - with IE and OE! They are better than their reputation - if not being used in a silly way (all open).
I also use A-squared, Spybot S&D and Ad-aware once a week.