One benefit of selecting a security suite rather than a collection of individual security utilities is integration. With ESET Home Security Premium, you get a set of security components bundled with some standalone components for tasks such as password management and parental control. The less expensive ESET Home Security Essential gives you nearly the same features, limiting this bundle’s appeal. Our Editors’ Choice for a feature-packed top-tier security suite remains Bitdefender Total Security.
What Goes Into ESET Home Security Premium?
In ESET’s security program lineup, ESET Home Security Premium is a security mega-suite. To start, it includes everything found in ESET Home Security Essential, except that it upgrades the security suite component to ESET Smart Security Premium. On top of that, it adds a password manager and an encryption system to protect your important files.
You manage this mob of components through the ESET Home online dashboard. Once you log in, you can easily check all your subscriptions and protected devices. From the subscriptions page, it’s a snap to download protection for the current device or send an email link to install it on another device.
On the Devices page, you can quickly see if any of your devices have security issues. You drill down for details if there’s a problem, but there’s no remote configuration like what you get with Sophos Home Premium, Webroot, and a few others. The online dashboard is also the spot to manage the parental control and anti-theft components and the password manager introduced in this bundle.
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F-Secure Total
How Much Does ESET Home Security Premium Cost?
ESET’s pricing scheme is as straightforward as it gets. A single license for the basic antivirus costs $39.99 per year, the entry-level bundle is $49.99, and the bundle reviewed here costs you $59.99 per year. For each of the three, additional licenses cost $5 per year, up to a maximum of five for the antivirus and 10 for the two suite bundles.
For five ESET Home Security Premium licenses, you’d pay $79.99, about the same as for F-Secure Internet Security, Total Defense, or Webroot. You’d pay more for just three Bitdefender Internet Security licenses.
McAfee+ doesn’t cap the number of devices you can protect. A $149.99 yearly subscription covers every Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS, and iOS device in your household. However, if you don’t need more than 10 licenses, ESET is a better deal at $104.99 for 10.
It's Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
At $119.99 per year for five licenses, Norton 360 Deluxe is quite a bit more expensive than ESET’s $79.99 fee. However, with Norton, you get five cross-platform security suite licenses, five no-limits VPN licenses, and 50GB of hosted online storage for your backups. Depending on your needs, Norton could be a good deal, but overall, ESET’s pricing is lower than the competition.
Getting Started With ESET Home Security Premium
The online ESET Home dashboard is the place to manage your subscriptions and devices. To install protection on a PC, you just log in and download the installer for ESET Smart Security Premium. From the dashboard, you can also install protection on a Mac or Android device or wrap an installation link in an email. Note that Mac protection consists of ESET Cyber Security for Mac, with no enhancements beyond what you get with the basic antivirus.
Click the Security Features button to access components beyond the main protective suite. You’ll see panels for five components: VPN, Password Manager, Anti-Theft, Identity Protection, and Parental Control. Note, though, that you don’t have access to the VPN or identity protection components. Those are reserved for the very top-tier bundle, ESET Home Security Ultimate.
ESET’s security suites no longer feature the company’s blue-eyed cyborg mascot. The main window of Smart Security Premium looks very much like that of the entry-level suite. In both, four large panels represent four security areas: Browser Privacy & Security, Network Inspector, Anti-Theft, and Safe Banking & Browsing. The Premium edition adds buttons for Password Manager and Secure Data.
Other than those two added features, the two suites are nearly identical. Secure Data and Password Manager appear again on the Tools page and in the Security tools section of the Setup page. That’s all, except for adding LiveGuard to the suite’s antivirus defense force. I’ll discuss LiveGuard below.
Given that this suite is so nearly identical to ESET Home Security Essential, there’s no sense in repeating the details of that review. Please take a moment to peruse that article, then come back here to learn about what’s different in the Premium edition.
Very briefly, ESET Home Security Essential provides antivirus protection that gets very good lab scores but falls down in some of our hands-on tests. If you enable interactive program control, its firewall’s system of popups and related brouhaha is maximally annoying. Parental control is splintered into a limited content filter for Windows and a separate Android-only system. Also, for Android, ESET offers a comprehensive mobile security app. The very thorough Device Control system may be too technical for some users. Intrigued? Again, please read that review.
Can LiveGuard Defeat Ransomware?
LiveGuard is an additional antivirus component that aims to “discover and stop never-before-seen types of threats.” To function, LiveGuard requires that you enable ESET’s cloud-based LiveGrid system. If ESET can’t identify a file as safe or dangerous, LiveGuard sends the file to the cloud for analysis. By default, it puts the execution of those unknown files on hold pending a verdict from the cloud. That’s a good default. You won’t often encounter files unknown to ESET; when you do, a short wait is worthwhile for your protection.
The description of LiveGuard sounds like something that might handle a ransomware attack if it got past the standard real-time antivirus. To check that possibility, I repeated my ransomware protection test, turning off real-time protection but leaving LiveGuard and the ransomware component active. I then attempted to launch a dozen real-world ransomware samples.
In my earlier test, two of the dozen samples didn’t do anything—no ransomware behavior means no behavior-based detection. ESET detected and foiled four samples but missed another five, letting them run rampant and encrypting freely. The remaining sample got caught by ESET but managed to encrypt almost 900 non-sensitive files, such as manifests and log files.
With LiveGuard participating, the results were only marginally different. ESET nabbed exactly one sample that wasn’t caught before, noting that it was “trying to modify files…in a suspicious way.” That was the only difference.
It’s true that my samples aren’t “never-before-seen” threats. I can’t code up a zero-day ransomware program for testing purposes. But I had hoped to see more benefit from the addition of LiveGuard.
Basic Password Manager
These days, every website wants you to log in with a username and password. Proper practice requires that you use complex passwords, which are different for every site. Nobody can remember all those passwords without help, so ESET’s Premium bundle adds a password manager. It handles all core password tasks but lacks some high-end features found in the best standalone password managers.
Getting Started With the Password Manager
To start managing your passwords, you log into your ESET Home account online and create a password store. Note that you can invite other household members to set up their own separate password stores. After creating the password store, you install the password manager on as many devices as you want. There are mobile apps for Android and iOS and browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Though ESET is enjoined from confirming this fact, the presence of several unique features and attributes reveals that ESET licenses the technology from SaferPass, as do Bitdefender and Panda.
Your next step is to select a strong master password. As always, this needs to be something you can remember, but nobody else would ever guess. ESET rates the password as you enter it, and it’s not just looking at length and complexity. Using dictionary words visibly lowers the rating. That’s nice, considering that at one point in the past, ESET accepted “Password” as a strong password.
Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure Passwords
At this point, the tool generates a 24-character Recovery Key that you can use if you forget your master password. You'll want to immediately click the button to save that information as a PDF or copy it to the clipboard and save it. For security reasons, this is the only time the key is displayed. If you miss the opportunity, you can change the master password and take better care with the resulting new Recovery Key.
Password Capture and Replay
You can get a head start by importing your passwords from whatever program you were using previously. ESET can import passwords from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, as well as about two dozen competing password managers. These include obscure programs and star performers such as 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane.
For testing, I tried importing a generic CSV file containing sample data, but that’s not something ESET supports. With some effort, I exported an example from ESET and reconfigured my test file to match the example’s layout. That worked.
While you can manually enter passwords, your best bet is to make ESET do the work. When you log in to a secure site, ESET offers to save your credentials. You can OK the capture, decline it just this once, or permanently suppress the offer for the current site. Clicking the edit pencil icon lets you name the saved entry with a friendly title. In testing, it captured most credential sets correctly but failed on two-page logins such as Google and Yahoo.
When you return to a site for which you have credentials saved, you just click the ESET icon in the username or password field. If you’ve got more than one set saved, you must choose; otherwise, you click to log in.
Whether imported, captured, or entered manually, your passwords appear in an account list that’s accessed by clicking the toolbar button. By observation, the accounts are sorted by domain, with no option to sort differently or organize items using folders or tags. If you accumulate a lot of saved logins, you’ll find the search bar at the top to be a necessity.
Flexible Password Generator
When setting up a new online account, you want to start with a strong password. Why not—you don’t have to remember it! ESET can help by generating random passwords. Out of the box, it generates 16-character passwords composed of letters (upper and lowercase), numbers, and special characters. An option titled Easy to type is enabled by default. I recommend choosing All characters instead because you don’t need to type when the password manager does the job. ESET can generate passwords ranging from four to 32 characters; PCMag recommends going for at least 20.
Filling Personal and Credit Card Data
ESET extends its password-filling skills to fill in personal details on web forms. Each form-filling identity includes name, address, and contact info. You add credit card data separately. When you visit a web form, ESET puts its icon in the fields it recognizes. You click the toolbar button, select an identity, and start filling in the details.
Annoyingly, I found I had to click separately in every field. Most competitors fill all the fields they can with a single click. ESET didn't fill every field correctly, but anything it automatically fills is something you don't have to type. RoboForm Everywhere started life as a form-filler utility and became a password manager. It remains a top form-filler with a huge number of field types. Many password managers let you save multiple instances of credit card data; RoboForm offers multiple instances of any field type.
Reporting on Weak and Duplicate Passwords
Getting all your existing passwords stored safely in a password manager is only the first step. You need to check those passwords and upgrade any that are weak or that you’ve used more than once. Top-notch password managers such as Dashlane and Keeper include a full security audit that flags weak and duplicate passwords. Some even help automate the updating of passwords, replacing bad ones with strong ones and recording the change.
ESET’s Security Report doesn’t offer quite that level of helpful detail. It summarizes how many of your passwords are weak, duplicate, or old. Clicking any of those categories gets you a list of the problem accounts, but it’s up to you to replace weak and duplicate passwords. The report also warns if your master password is weak and zings you for not using two-factor authentication.
Like many password managers, ESET can check for leaked accounts by consulting the HaveIBeenPwned website’s database. If it reports any of your passwords as breached, you should immediately go to the site and change to a new, strong password.
Additional Security Options
Putting all your important passwords inside a password manager is convenient for you, but it could also be convenient for a hacker or a sneak. Anyone who gets hold of your master password could turn password management from a security asset to a liability. Enabling multi-factor authentication means the master password alone isn’t enough to open your treasure trove of passwords.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?
ESET’s multi-factor authentication, accessed by choosing My Account from the Settings menu, adds security by requiring both a master password and another factor in the form of a code generated by Google Authenticator or one of several work-alike authenticator apps. ESET actively supports Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Twilio Authy, and Duo Mobile for this kind of authentication. Going the other way, ESET can serve as the authenticator app for websites that support Google Authenticator and its workalikes.
You can use the password manager in multiple browsers on multiple desktops or on multiple mobile devices. Potentially, that’s a lot of places where somebody else might get a peek at your passwords. If you’re concerned you may have left the door open to password-peepers, just choose Secure Me from the menu. You get a list of all active sessions and lock them all with just a tap. In addition, you can instruct all copies of the browser extension to log out of websites that ESET logged into, delete cookies, and delete history. Once you’ve resolved the immediate worry, you may want to consider changing your master password, engaging in multi-factor authentication, or both. Note that this unusual feature is a specialty of SaferPass—another clue!
Mobile Password Management
ESET’s mobile password management app works as identically to the browser extension as possible, with a few small exceptions. The first time you log in, you must create a four-digit PIN for quick access. The app then offers to enable biometric authentication, if available.
Because the browser extension on the desktop displays in a tall, rectangular window, the mobile app easily takes on almost an identical appearance on a smartphone. Installed on a tablet, it does let you turn the device for a landscape-mode view. It also handles almost all the same features, though a few, such as the import and export of data, must be performed using the extension. On both Android and iOS, you enable it as the Autofill service, which allows it to fill credentials just as it does on desktop devices.
What’s Not Here?
We don’t advise promiscuously sharing your passwords, but sometimes you must—as when you share an account with a spouse or partner. Many password managers, among them Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault, LogMeOnce, and 1Password, let you securely share passwords with other users. The similar digital legacy feature lets you define an heir to receive your passwords in the unfortunate event of your untimely demise. Neither of these advanced features shows up in ESET’s password manager.
This password manager offers a full cross-platform experience, with mobile apps for Android and iOS and browser extensions for popular browsers. It doesn’t have the advanced features of the best standalone password managers, but it’s a decent, basic tool. However, you could do better by adding the free Editors’ Choice Bitwarden to ESET’s entry-level security bundle.
The Secure Data Feature Encrypts Files
A laptop thief who guesses your too-simple Windows login password or grabs your device while it’s already logged in could hoover up all your sensitive data—unless you’ve encrypted your important files. Even a ransomware attack can’t touch your files when they’re sealed in an encrypted vault. Encrypting your most important files just makes good sense.
ESET Premium's Secure Data, which is installed the first time you access it, makes encryption simple. As with similar encryption systems from Kaspersky, G Data, and others, you create one or more encrypted virtual drives to store your data. When the drive is unlocked, it behaves like any other drive; when it's locked, nobody can access the files. Trend Micro Maximum Security takes the concept further, with the option to remotely seal the vault, foiling even a thief who stole your laptop and your vault password.
A wizard walks you through creating each new virtual drive. You choose a name and location for the vault file and select a drive capacity from a list of presets. You can also set a custom size. This step is important because, as with most such encryption systems, you can't change the vault size after creation. A similar feature in G Data Total Security cleverly offers preset sizes matching the capacity of CD, DVD, and other storage media.
Next, you create a password to lock the drive. ESET rates password strength as you type, and its rating skills have improved. It used to accept “Password” as a strong password. Now it notices embedded dictionary words and even zings something like MyPassword7&. Whatever you choose, consider recording it as a secure note in the password manager because if you forget the password, you’ve lost access to the protected files.
Note that by default, ESET automatically decrypts the drive for the current Windows user account. If you walk away from your desk without logging out, you leave your files unprotected. Unless you've secured your Windows account with a strong password or biometric option and always lock it on stepping away, I suggest you disable this option.
ESET doesn't maintain a list of the encrypted drives you've created. Rather, you must locate the vault file and launch it to open the encrypted drive. Now, you can treat it like any other drive. When you’re done working with sensitive files, right-click the drive and choose Eject. Do be sure you’ve saved any open files residing on the drive.
You wouldn't stash one copy of a sensitive contract in your wall safe while leaving other copies lying around unprotected. Rather, you'd put the extras through the shredder. The same is true for the unencrypted originals of sensitive files, so suites that offer encryption often include a secure deletion utility. Alas, ESET lacks a file-shredding component. The best you can do is hold down Shift while deleting originals, so they at least don't wind up in the Recycle Bin.
ESET also lets you create an encrypted folder on any removable drive. You just supply the password; you don't have to enter a filename or choose the capacity. Here, too, I advise disabling automatic decryption for the current Windows user account. When you mount the drive and enter the password, ESET makes the encrypted folder available.
You can also make your portable encrypted files available on any computer. Doing so puts a program called ESET Secure Data on the unencrypted portion of the removable drive. Just run the program and enter your password to access the encrypted folder.
Premium Doesn't Add Enough Value
ESET Home Security Premium brings all the features you expect in a suite, but so does ESET Home Security Essential. The premium suite, reviewed here, just adds password management and encryption, and both come up a bit short. The password manager lacks advanced features, and there's no secure deletion utility to prevent forensic investigators from recovering the unencrypted originals of your sensitive files. Bitdefender Total Security is our Editors' Choice winner in the security mega-suite realm. It earns great scores from the independent antivirus labs we follow, and its massive feature set includes password management, webcam protection, anti-theft, and much more.
ESET Home Security Premium enhances the impressive features in its entry-level suite with encryption and a cross-platform password manager but doesn't add enough value to make upgrading worthwhile.
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