Apple says "anti-virus"

Common knowledge for years has been that Macs don't need antivirus software, because Macs can't get viruses. As is often the case, common knowledge is wrong. Macs can get viruses, just like any other computer system... but they have been mostly ignored up until now, because they have been an insignificant portion of the market. Apple just came out with a knowledge-base article (link removed, see below) that should put that hoary old chestnut to rest, going so far as to recommend various commercial solutions to virus-checking needs.

Me, I just went and picked up iAntiVirus, which is free for single-machine use. From what I gather, it only works on Intel Macs, and only those running Leopard... but it only scans for Mac-specific signatures, something that I like (others complain about the potential for "forwarding on" Windows viruses to Windows people... people that should have their own antivirus, in my opinion). We'll see how this program works out...

UPDATE: Pride, thy name is Apple. Apparently, that knowledge-base article has been around for a little while, but, once the Washington Post stumbled across it and brought it to the attention of the world, it was quickly removed, since it conflicted with their marketing strategy. So now, they're not saying you don't need antivirus software as part of your defenses, but Leopard's built-in security mechanisms are implied to be sufficient. Me, I'm still recommending the free antivirus... that whole ounce of prevention vs. pound of cure thing is really nice, especially at the price.

UPDATE 2: Right, well, free antivirus is all well and good... supposing it's well-behaved. I'd noticed my computer being a bit sluggish of late (19DEC08), so I fired off a terminal and ran top. The iAntiVirus daemon was sucking up over 90% of CPU cycles! So, I've gotten rid of that beast, and I don't have any suggestions for a replacement. I guess I'm running with Apple's defenses alone for the time being.