Since I just reformated my hard drive and I need to install an anti-virus, I wondered if norton antivirus is the same as AVG or there is really a difference between them?

norton you have to pay for and avg is free and some people would say avg is better

Go AVG if you can, I had both, Norton's first then AVG. I removed nortons after someone had mentioned how slow their system was with Norton AV. When I removed it and installed AVG my system was almost back to its old speed and hasnt slowed down since.

Another point is the cost. AVG is faster AND its free...cant beat that with a stick!

as soon as my norton runs out i will be going on to avg

I used Trend Micro PC-Cillin for a year and that is a very good program. The resources usedaren't as bad as Nortons, but aren't as good as AVG's little resources.

What I'd say is go for AVG. Why pay? AVG is free and some would say the protection is far superior to that of Norton (I'm not a professional antivirus software tester, but I believe so).