In this case, the free product listed in the thread title, will in fact charge you for their services/support "geekbuddy" although not near as expensive as most others, you still will pay.
i voted for KIS due to its protection but its really a fair comparison since CIS is free.
also worth mentioning that CIS has much lesser impact on the computers performance.
It seems like users still carry the idea that CAV is known for high False Positives.
In fact since version 5.8 the FP's rate decreased thanks to submission of users.
HIPS on both products function differently so that would not be a fair comparison.
In terms of lightness, it is CIS. There are users who still say Kaspersky is light. In fact it is light compared to previous versions, not compared to other vendors.
KIS and CIS is basically Paid versus Free as it boils down. Firewall of CIS is actually more advanced than KIS but not everyone touches that subject.
It really comes down to users choice, CIS and KIS both are good products. I personally find CIS is lighter and more responsive on my machine, but may not be the case for someone else.
Yes that issue with the startup/shutdown is still present and a patch is not yet available. See here. I agree with Biozfear on CIS firewall. Comodo's is a hands-down winner for the firewall imho.