Title says it all.

I reckon the protective grease will just attract muck so degrease and lube may be the way to go….

Degrease and lube. Otherwise you could suffer from chain suck, etc.

I have not degreased a chian in years. That factory grease packed in is a good thing.

I wipe clean and lube after every ride, use dry lube all year round and replace when .75

There will be 40 different opinions on this but that is mine.

Wipe the outside with GT85 or something just to remove the excess tackiness, then leave the factory grease to do its job.

This one’s been done to death on here. All the chain vendors think the lube they put on the chain is the best lube it will ever have, but lots of people on here know better and remove it to put on something worse. If you want to lube it yourself as well as the factory does Sheldon Brown explains how.

Yep factory lube is good you will struggle to get lube into the places they do.
Remove from packet fit to bike and ride. That is all that is needed.

After having a brand new kmc chain destroy itself in a single ride because of the excessively sticky grease, I warrantied it and they recommended I degrease it and relube with something, quote, more suitable for offroad use. So I have done ever since, with silkolene melt-in wax which is just plain better. (the only time since that I’ve not done this, was an emergency replacement at last year’s vallelujah- a brand new SRAM which instantly filled with scottish mank and started to grind and ghost shift within 10 miles. So when i got home I cleaned it, lubed it, all good.

But ymmv depend on your riding conditions, lube and methodology- if you’re not lubing it well you could end up with it dry inside and that’s no good. And I’ve always been happy with the factory lube on the road and in cleaner conditions.