McAfee received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1967 from Roanoke College in Virginia, which subsequently awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 2008. He had spent his childhood living in fear that a beating from his father could happen at any time, and struggled to make sense of why this was happening to him. When he was 15, his father, whom a BBC columnist described as 'an abusive alcoholic', killed himself with a gun. He said he felt as much British as American. His father was from Roanoke, Virginia, and McAfee was himself primarily raised in Salem, Virginia, United States. Army base (of the 596th Ordnance Ammunition Company), to an American father, Don McAfee, who was stationed there, and a British mother, Joan (Williams). McAfee was born in Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, on 18 September 1945, on a U.S. McAfee's wife, Janice McAfee, said she did not believe McAfee committed suicide, and claimed the suicide note was a forgery.

His death generated speculation and conspiracy theories about the possibility that he was murdered.

On 23 June 2021, he was found dead due to an apparent suicide by hanging in his prison cell near Barcelona shortly after the Spanish National Court authorized his extradition to the U.S. federal prosecutors brought criminal and civil charges alleging that McAfee had failed to file income taxes over a four-year period. In October 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain over U.S. He resided for a number of years in Belize, but returned to the United States in 2013 while wanted in Belize for questioning on suspicion of murder. His personal and business interests included smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, light-sport aircraft and recreational drug use. After leaving McAfee Associates, he founded the companies Tribal Voice (makers of the PowWow chat program), QuorumEx, and Future Tense Central, among others, and was involved in leadership positions in the companies Everykey, MGT Capital Investments, and Luxcore, among others. McAfee's fortunes plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008. He disavowed the company's continued use of his name in branding, a practice that has persisted in spite of a short-lived corporate rebrand attempt under Intel ownership. McAfee became the company's most vocal critic in later years, urging consumers to uninstall the company's anti-virus software, which he characterized as bloatware. He resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company. In 1987, he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation. John David McAfee ( / ˈ m æ k ə f iː/ MAK-ə-fee 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and in 2020.

Presidential teleprompter for sale