Avast is good.
AVG is also good,
(both free)
the fact that security essentials is dying is no great surprise, honestly it's never matter how good it was, the fact that it was provided by MS was the problem.
the average joe in the street thinks, this is the company that made the crappy OS that keeps getting viruses, that left hundreds of holes open, that tells me every month there is a new security concern or bug, or exploit... how can I trust them to give me decent AV...
security essentials would have seen good uptake if it wasn't provided by MS.