anti-virus and malware protection

+1 - Mac computers do not need any sort of anti-virus, cleaners, VPNs, etc. The only thing they are good at is creating false marketing promises and taking consumers' money. They are all scams. In fact, anti-virus and other cleaners cause performance issues, security issues, and make macOS appear buggy. Your Mac is far worse with these types of Apps installed.

Mac computers have protection built-in, which is the best protection for your Mac. For specifics on macOS Security, see: macOS - Security - Apple and Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support. Mac computers also have built-in storage recommendations: Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support. You can even use the built-in macOS Firewall: Block connections to your Mac with a firewall - Apple Support. Other than that, all you should do is restart your Mac approximately once a week and keep macOS up to date: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support.

Cheers,

Jack

That's right. First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.  

There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   

Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.

There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is desshoigned solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  

Also, unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer, school or bank's servers, they are useless from a privacy standpoint.  Read these two articles: Public VPN's are anything but private and Former Malware Distributor Kape Technologies Now Owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, and a Collection of VPN “Review” Websites. 

None of it is needed.

I had the same exact question 15 years ago.

I have never used any anti-anything on my Mac.

If you want a system that just works, then save your money! 😉