Is McAfee's costs worth its security compared to free services like Avira?

McAfee and Norton are pretty much bloatware at this point and just short of malware. There are so many good free options that the pay for services have to resort to shady practices and scams to stay in business.

IDK. A couple years ago my computer got hit by a freaking adware which made it technically nonfunctional. Then I found a vid on Youtube recommending Malwarebytes to solve the issue. It worked like a charm so that’s the only antivirus I trust.

Didn’t McAfee get popped for actually writing computer viruses and releasing them ? Their HQ is near me. It’s a huge place

In my opinion no. It puts too many unseen hooks into your system and can really be a drain on resources. Security shouldn't come at the cost of reducing your system usefulness.

McCaffee is trash, Avira slows your computer down more but is actually better protection