In my opinion, McAfee Web Protection is one of the best secure web gateways and has a fantastic firewall. It successfully protects every device, user, and location from sophisticated internet threats. The solution does an excellent job at delivering the security, controls, and deployment flexibility needed for enterprise security. And McAfee Web Protection allows you to deploy web security the way that best fits your current and changing needs by offering an on-premises option, the unlimited scale and low cost of a cloud service, or a hybrid combination of the two.
Some of McAfee Web Protection’s biggest advantages are:
Advanced security: McAfee Web Protection layers numerous threat technologies to provide the most in-depth web security available. Its layered approach offers the best combination of security and performance. The solution’s advanced protection includes:
Proactive behavioral analysis that opens content in real time for deep inspection. McAfee Web Protection uses a patent-pending approach to behavioral analysis. By scanning a web page’s active content, emulating and understanding its behavior, and predicting its intent, McAfee Web Protection proactively is able to protect against zero-day and targeted attacks as they occur.
Comprehensive signature-based antivirus protection with real-time lookups, which helps to close the gap between virus discovery and system update protection.
Enhanced web filtering functionality and security through the powerful combination of both reputation and category-based filtering. McAfee GTI powers McAfee Web Protection’s web filtering technologies and also creates a profile of all internet entities, such as websites, email, and IP addresses, that is based on hundreds of different attributes gathered from the massive global data collection capabilities of McAfee Labs.
Complete inbound and outbound protection: McAfee Web Protection is capable of enforcing your organization’s internet use policy with a comprehensive web filtering database. The solution also provides immediate, effective protection against malware and other hidden threats, includes mobile filtering for remote users, and has controls for more than 1,000 web applications.
Cloud application control: McAfee Web Protection provides complete visibility into all web traffic and includes thousands of cloud application controls that can be used to manage or restrict access, using business criteria such as application risk or user profile.
Protection everywhere: As workforces move toward a more remote work environment, the need for web filtering and protection is increasing drastically. McAfee Web Protection customers can take advantage of McAfee Client Proxy, included with McAfee Web Protection and McAfee Endpoint Security, to both protect and control web access for off-network users.
Easy to set up: McAfee Web Protection’s initial setup is quick and easy. When the license key is entered, it automatically starts to install. Whatsmore is, because the solution is straightforward to deploy, it is unlikely that users will need help from technical experts to get it up and running. Transferring McAfee licenses between devices is also simple to do.
Scalable: The McAfee Web Protection platform can easily scale to support multiple devices under a single license.
Monthly summaries: Every month, McAfee Web Protection notifies you with a summary of the month’s activities, which gives you a full overview.
Continuous updates: The solution is able to protect all users, even off-network, against fast-changing and zero-day malware attacks.
Reliable technical support: Good technical support is never a guarantee with any solution. However, McAfee Web Protection’s technical support team is outstanding, with quick response times, and they are very knowledgeable.
Cost-effective: When I did my research of other web protection platforms, I found that McAfee Web Protection was quite affordable. By using McAfee Web Protection, you can lower the maintenance overhead of your existing web security technology.
Besides having many advantages, McAfee Web Protection also has some really amazing features, including:
Deployment flexibility: McAfee Web Protection was created in a way that lets you deploy on location with appliances, in virtual environments, or in the cloud, or combine options for added deployment flexibility and high availability.
Mobile filtering: McAfee Web Protection gives you the option to take advantage of McAfee Client Proxy, included in McAfee Web Protection, so you can protect and control web access for mobile users.
Unified reporting: McAfee Web Protection supports the McAfee ePO platform, which provides detailed web reporting through the McAfee Content Security Reporter extension.
Content security reporter: McAfee Web Protection includes a content security reporter that enables organizations to aggregate data across the different web protection delivery platforms. It gives you the information and tools you need to understand how your organization is using the web. It also helps your organization comply with regulations, identify trends, isolate problems, document inappropriate web activity, and much more.
Lightweight: Compared to other solutions, McAfee Web Protection is lightweight. It does not utilize a large amount of system resources when running.
Convenient administration: McAfee Web Protection includes customizable dashboards that help each administrator monitor trends and gain a better understanding of how the organization uses web and email resources. You can isolate problems from any browser, document inappropriate activity, comply with regulatory reporting, and fine-tune filtering settings to enforce web-usage policies. The solution also provides tailored notifications, which alert users of policy violations and blocked web content, and administrative alerts provide instant knowledge about important security events.
Room for Improvement
While I am a huge fan of the McAfee Web Protection solution, there are a few drawbacks:
There are too many popups trying to get you to upgrade to their antivirus software.
The True Key version for mobile phones could be better. For example, the password manager is not as seamless as it is on the desktop.
I would like to see more information provided when a site is flagged as unsafe, so that I could make more informed decisions.
It would be a nice addition to have more coverage for spam.
Conclusion
In summary, I recommend McAfee Web Protection because it is a complete, reliable, stable, and comprehensive protection platform. Since I have started using the product, I have been very satisfied. It stands out from its competing solutions because it is well designed and very powerful. By using the McAfee Web Protection solution, I have peace of mind that my systems are very well protected from any viruses, spyware, or malware.
Learn what your peers think about McAfee Web Protection [EOL]. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
I highly recommend McAfee Web Protection. In my opinion, it is a comprehensive web protection platform with a great firewall. I find that it is a lot less bulky than competing solutions on the market. With McAfee, I know that I am well protected from viruses, spyware, and malware. If I’m on a site with unsafe files, a message will pop up warning me about the possible dangers of the site. It is ...
I highly recommend McAfee Web Protection. In my opinion, it is a comprehensive web protection platform with a great firewall. I find that it is a lot less bulky than competing solutions on the market. With McAfee, I know that I am well protected from viruses, spyware, and malware. If I’m on a site with unsafe files, a message will pop up warning me about the possible dangers of the site. It is a powerful and reliable solution. I haven’t experienced any stability issues or bugs while using it - it doesn't crash or freeze while running. Once a month, McAfee sends out an email with a summary of the month’s activities. It also sends out an alert if it detects any anomalies on the device it is installed on. When it comes to cost, McAfee is definitely reasonably priced. The license I have provides me with protection for up to five devices. Below is a list of features and benefits that McAfee provides its users with:
Virus, malware, and firewall protection: McAfee is ideal for web protection. It detects malware and viruses and protects against spyware. It also has a very useful and efficient firewall.
Identity theft prevention: One of the tools McAfee offers is the True Key password manager, which has a feature that monitors for identity theft. McAfee's identity protection can also detect and report unused email addresses.
Reporting: McAfee sends monthly reports with information on activities and the status of the product’s configuration. In addition to the monthly reports, it alerts users when they need to take immediate action to resolve a security threat.
Lightweight: McAfee does not utilize a large amount of system resources when running.
Scalable: McAfee is designed to scale to support multiple devices under a single license.
Easy setup and deployment: The initial setup of McAfee is very straightforward and fast. The solution begins to install automatically as soon as the license key is entered into the website. A typical user will be able to install it without outside assistance from technical experts. It is also very easy to transfer McAfee licenses between devices.
Customer support: McAfee’s technical support is always available to assist when necessary.
McAfee is a complete, reliable, and mature product. However, there are a few improvements I would like to see in the next release, such as:
Better details and insights on why McAfee deemed a site unsafe: For example, are there any components on the site that are problematic, or has the site been blacklisted in the past?
Improved spam protection: Occasionally I do receive spam messages. Some users might find it necessary to use a spam filter along with McAfee Web Protection.
Overall, I would rate McAfee a nine out of ten. It does what I expect it to do and I know that my various devices are well protected with it running in the background.
Lead: Incident Response, Investigation & Vulnerability Management at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Mar 8, 2020
When we started to buy the appliance the starting point was a little expensive. It depends on how people see it. In my case, they give a nice price. We are a government agency and they have a contract with us here in Virginia, they gave a nice discount and everything. We bought two appliances that have enough power for managing almost 30,000 users. We are using less than 1% of capacity. And this was a great feature for us because we never come to capacity, but we know that we have enough power to move anything that we want here. I would rate McAfee Web Protection a nine out of ten.
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