Well, short answer, no, not really.  

I wouldn’t really want to call anti-virus and security software a cash grab, but it definitely runs close to the margin!  As an non-techie user, you simply MUST have anti-virus software. It WILL protect you from a lot of KNOWN attacks out there - but thats also giving you a false sense of security!  It only protects from KNOWN attacks!  

Sure they can have advanced features that try to detect unknown threats, but I know they can’t stop me.  The place where anti-virus software fall short in their marketing is that they hide this fact, and instead, try to make everyone think they are bulletproof because they have THEIR brand of software.  THAT’S the cash grab part!  

You simply need to be aware that no software can protect you indefinitely from hackers.  Now the best you can do as a layman is to make sure if you are visiting a site where you enter sensitive info or a site that asks you to download/install/run stuff - IS IT HTTPS?! And do you explicitly trust the site?