Antivirus Software / Anti Malware on Mac OS 11.4?

I know that I am asking a well-worked question with the subject of using third party software for virus and malware detection, but I do have some specific concerns.

I had used Norton/Symantec products on Windows systems since the days of Windows 3.1, so it seemed prudent to continue using Norton Antivirus for Mac when I switched over to Macs in 2007. This product didn't seem to be doing any harm, and based on my prior Windows experience I felt somewhat 'naked' working on the internet with absolutely nothing between my computer and the world for security.

I ran into my first noticeable problems with Symantec Antivirus for Mac when I updated a very new 2017 MacBook Pro from Mojave to Catalina. I saw crashes and reboots on system startup and for the first time ever, I sought help from Symantec's technical support. After over an hour of reboots and remote control of my system by Symantec, the best that they could offer was that I should wipe my system, downgrade my operating system back to Mojave, and wait for them to develop a fix. This advice was for an operating system that had been in general release for over three months then, as I never install new operating systems on day 1 of their release-to-public. I was more than a little angry at this flippant response by Symantec, so I uninstalled their product from the systems in my household (three MacBooks) and switched to McAfee Antivirus for Mac. That seemed to work (more or less) without problems until recently.

I recently noticed on McAfee that the option to remove systems from my subscription (I replaced a couple of computers in the last year) was broken. I also noticed, after wiping my 2017 MacBook Pro for a clean install of OS 11.4, that real-time scanning and the McAfee firewall features would not stay enabled, no matter what I did. I called McAfee tech support and their response was that old, inactive systems, could only be removed from their end. Well, if that function was broken in their antivirus/firewall software, in addition to the other glitches that I noticed, it made me wonder what else might be broken that I hadn't yet noticed. McAfee Tech Support's best answer was to offer the hope that these problems would be fixed in the next upgrade of their software. Right. So, off came McAfee from all of my systems.

After doing a bit of reading here and at other places on the web, I am about 98% convinced that I don't need any sort of antivirus software on my Mac systems. My only nagging doubt was raised when I saw a few posts in these forums recommending use of the Malware Bytes software if one felt that they absolutely had to have some sort of security software. After looking over Malware Bytes' user forums for Mac, it became obvious that their product too was not without problems. My question (finally), is it worthwhile to subscribe to Malware Bytes' paid version for 'real-time' protection? I am wary of installing anything now on Mac OS for 'security' as the last three versions of the OS have seemed to be causing increasing problems for the companies that produce these antivirus / anti-malware products. I have already walked away from two non-refundable antivirus subscriptions, so I don't want to make this mistake again! At this point in my life I tend to run a minimalistic system with just the software that I need to get my work done (MS Office 365, academic reference managers, Parallels to run old versions of Windows for data retrieval, and graphics programs for drawing).