They’ve spent a lengthy eight months in beta, but ESET has finally released the next generation of its home security products, ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6.

And in the most significant addition this time, ESET Smart Security 6 now includes an anti-theft service to help you recover a lost or stolen computer. It works much like many similar services – you can see your device’s position on a map, monitor users via webcam (if you have one), collect snapshots of the screen and so on – but remains a very welcome new feature.

Elsewhere, the scanning engine now has the option to run regular scans when your system is idle. (This is turned off by default, but can be re-enabled at Advanced Settings > Computer > Antivirus and antispyware > Idle-state scanning.)

ESET Smart Security 6's new antitheft feature can help you recover lost or stolen computers

While previously you had to wait until you’d completely downloaded a file before your ESET tool would scan it, the program now checks them as they’re downloading, potentially a real time-saver.

ESET reports that the packages now feature improved anti-phishing protection, with even NOD32 Antivirus 6 now doing a good job of preventing your browser from reaching known malicious websites or domains.

And maintenance improvements see you now able to roll back the previous virus signature update, if you believe it’s unstable or corrupt.

This isn’t exactly the most exciting release of the year, then. Most of the new features are either duplicates of functionality available in other tools, or options we’d have expected the programs to include already.

Still, if you’re already an ESET fan then there’s no doubt this new generation represents a solid step forward, and trial builds of both ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 are available now.