Do I really need McAfee on my MacBook Pro?

Not really. Apple has it's own protection built in macOS:

Protecting against malware in macOS - Apple Support

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Although this user tip is from a couple of years ago, it still contains reasonable information:

Viruses, Trojans, Malware - and other asp… - Apple Community

There are no known Windows-like Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS, because of the underling UNIX  Foundation and Permission Limitation. 

Additionally, and specific to Big Sur macOS 11 and Monterey macOS 12, Ventura macOS 13, the Operating System resides in a Sealed and Read Only Volume that can not be opened by the User and protects against from “ Bad Actor “ Software.

The Only thing this Antivirus software is protecting is the Bank Account of the Developers and for zero return to the User aside from the problems this software creates.

AntiVirus Developers purposefully Market their product to create a “ Fear Factor “. In so doing, creating a False Need for their Product.

The The Built in Security  is all that is required to protect the computer.

Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions 

This will include CleanMyMac , This will include BitDefender , 

This will included Norton Antivirus , Sophos Av Software

Intego AntiVirus, McAfee, MacKeeper, Avast AntiVirus

Ad Guard, Webroot , ESET , Avira 

AVG AntiVirus  

Trustee  

Read some of the posting and arrive at your own conclusions.

No No No

I've tried in the past McAfee and Norton on one of my MBAs and it was trouble from the get go. It's especially hard to remove Norton from a Mac as it installs low level system files that are not removed when you uninstall the program. You have to hunt but Norton offers a program that strips out all the code that stays in place after you remove the program.

MacOS is very good at keeping you safe and the general opinion is that 3rd party anti-virus programs and most utilities are unnecessary and create more problems than they solve.

LyleFromVegas wrote:

It's especially hard to remove Norton from a Mac as it installs low level system files that are not removed when you uninstall the program. You have to hunt but Norton offers a program that strips out all the code that stays in place after you remove the program.

I spent an entire day removing Norton the last time I had it installed. It was awful.

Absolutely not!

Effective defenses against malware and other threats

They made us use McAfee on our work computers. Most of the problems reported, system panics, networking issues, excessive CPU and Memory usage, were because of McAfee.

Just say "No".