Just got off the phone with Microsoft tech support

I'm 23 and have only ever used macs. I bought a cheap new dell laptop because I'm going to have to travel for work extensively soon and wanted to bring a computer with me, and I didn't want to bring my $1,300 MacBook Air everywhere.<br><br>So I just opened the thing up, got a message in the corner telling me I have no virus protection. I've never owned a pc before, so I'm not even sure of the different types of virus protection available. I saw an option that said something along the lines of 'get free protection for 30 days' from Microsoft, and figured that the people at Microsoft probably know what they're doing, so I clicked it.<br><br>Then all of a sudden all these ads start popping up everywhere telling me I have all this malware on my computer and telling me to renew my Microsoft protection for another year for $300 or something. I didn't know what to do, so I called the Microsoft tech support number on the screen.<br><br>I've heard of those scams where a fake call will come in to your phone telling you your software is out of date and that they need remote access to your computer, then they just steal all your info. So I'm on the phone with this guy, and I'm not really sure if he's from Microsoft or not. I don't know if he's about to hack into my computer. The call was really weird, he was speaking with this thick accent and kept telling me that my computer was in danger and that he needed to remotely access it to show me all the problems. I told him that I was going to take it to the Microsoft store at the mall because I didn't want to give him remote access to my computer. He got pissed at me and told me that I was being paranoid. I told him I'm calling the Microsoft store to confirm I'm talking to the right person, and he got pissed at that and hung up on me.<br><br>So I call the real Microsoft store and they tell me that the 'Microsoft tech support' number I called was a total scam, and that there's no way I would ever receive a call like that from real Microsoft employees. They said that I probably downloaded some malware from clicking on that original 'get 30 days free' button.<br><br>They told me to take the laptop to the Microsoft store at the mall and they'll get the malware out of it for free, but that they're not open until 10am and it's currently only 7am, so now I have to sit around and wait for 3 hours to get my laptop cleaned.<br><br>I'm just a college student, I don't know that much about computers. But I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be getting random calls telling me my computer is in danger and getting emails and ads telling me to pay for more protection right after I buy a new laptop. Or am I? I guess my question is, what is the best free virus protection to use for a PC? Or should I just pay for it?<br><br>&#x200B;