Definitely get ad-blocker, you'll have no problem after that.
I use Opera as it's fast and light, but unfortunately not as popular as Chrome. My ISP recently put a data cap on their internet service and I had to find ways to lower bandwidth consumption. Chrome is the best browser I've used thus far, but I realized that it takes up a lot of data. I've found that Opera has the same efficiency of Chrome with significantly less consumption and a similar layout.
I've been using the free version of Avira for years now and it's great. Although I only use my laptop for studying/gaming etc. Haven't had to worry about malware in a long time. The only downside are small ads that appear in the corner once every few days, but taking a second to close them isn't an issue for me.