anti virus: nod32 (av only. not smart because that comes bundled with firewall)

firewall: windows firewall control (basically an overlay that makes using default firewall much easier)

active anti malware (mbam. i use for active block. also run scans manually every now and then just to double check every few months)

passive anti malware (hitman pro. it scans on start up, as well as on manual scan every few months. on startup may be overkill, might disable that cause it feels unecessary). herdprotector (only use as a double check cause tends to have lots of false positives. just to be sure i did not miss anything.)

anti exploits (emet 5.2 + malwarebytes anti exploit. Is compatible as long as some options in emet is disables due to conflict. works well together once configured)

browser: chrome and firefox. i use both ublock and umatrix by gorhill. Browsing is very safe, as stuff don't get loaded into my pc unless i explicitly allow it. may seem complicated at first, but setup is easy once you get use to it. stuff like youtube i set to allow globally. other things from a local site, only gets locally allowed on that site alone. i have not had a single cookie tracker on my machine since i use these 2 plugins.... thats how good they are.

other useful chrome extensions: magic actions (this prevents videos from autoplaying. can't get annoying especially when multiple tabs have videos). session buddy (easy to reload tabs and windows when accidentally closed or due to pc reboot). lastpass (best password keyring to store complicated passwords. Keep the master password stored safely elsewhere )

OS of choice: windows 10. People complain that windows 10 has more spying capability. i agree, which is why i did the basic privacy settings to disable most of it. People reported that even doing that it still is too invasive. theres a script someone made to fully disable every invasive thing added into windows 10. Honestly i didn't even bother cause i got nothing to hide.

other useful tools for pc maintenance: stardock fences (keeps my desktop clean and organized). ccleaner+ccenhancer (cleans out registry as well as free up space. I do this every few months to clear out junk that piles on my pc), driverbooster by iobit (this keeps my pc drivers up to date. very reliable and has not caused any pc crashes whatsoever). total uninstall (best app uninstaller. fully cleans out apps properly. I'd still use ccleaner as an extra precaution, but most of the time total uninstall does the trick). privazer (clears my pc of traces. is a more advance version of ccleaner mostly for privacy)

anti keylogger: zemana antikeylogger (i find this works the best.)
router protection: a router using shibby tomato firmware which i update for security patches. stock firmwares tend to be slow in updating security fixes from my experience. so dependable third party firmwares that are regularly updated with features/security patches is more ideal.

security tests: i don't do much. GRC ShieldsUp  seems to be enough of a security check av-test is another awesome place to go to check which av is most reliable https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/
i guess for a much better security setup, some sandboxing either via shadow defender or sandboxie would be ideal. However for practical usage i find it too annoying.
theres also vpn to prevent isp snooping but not really bothered with that 
bottomline
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windows defender alone is not nearly enough in this day and age to secure your pc imho

yeah is a bit much for average user to handle. i'm not a full blown expert either but i do know to navigate my way around.

especially browser umatrix. some user may not be familiar in how to use that. it's worth learning.

not to mention lower spec pc will suffer more due to strain of not being able to use so many apps running in the background :{
the safest and easiest way to avoid hax is ...

1. anti virus (an easy one that doesn't prompt the user too often about dealing with threats)
2. sandbox e.g. shadow defender or sandboxie

so everytime pc shutdown, everything that was saved is all gone ...... downside is if your not tech savvy you probably won't know how to permanently commit save files you don't want to lose. on the upside, you don't need to know anything about stopping virus. cauz all the data will be wiped at the end of your session, so virus/malware won't be able to survive. however stuff like windows updates need to be excluded from sandboxing. first time setup this may be possible, but not sure average know how to configure