I actually think its worse to have a suite because they bundle alot of other crap into the suite that you dont need. Like mcafee (very bad) and their (bad) PC tune up stuff.
I guess the ONLY upside to haveing a suite is you know they are compatible. But you should test and create you own free suite. I have:
-windows xp's firewall
-AVG link scanner
-IOBIT security 360 pro
-Microsoft security essentails
-spyware terminator
they all work well together and stop all my tests.
However never are you 100% immune, but you can be close.