The "protection status" is displayed in the top half of the Home Page. The protection status indicates whether your PC is protected, and changes according to security events that occur on your PC. For example, the protection status changes to show that your PC is "at risk" when your subscription expires.
Along with your PC's protection status, this area also displays the status of these critical protection features: Real-Time Scanning, Updates, Personal Firewall, and Subscription. These features play a crucial role in keeping your PC protected against the latest viruses, spyware, and other potential threats. Problems related to these features usually change the protection status to "at risk" and generate a notification that is displayed in the protection status area of your McAfee software. For more information about notifications and problems that change the protection status, read Fix a protection problem.
The protection status is "secure" (green), "Your Firewall is off" (gray), or "at risk" (red).