Dataguard errors in standby alert log

I don't seem to be able to find an answer to this:

Oracle 10.2.0.4 physical standby database on Solaris 10 64bit, SPARC.

The v$archive_gap view does not have any entries, but the alert logs ever since the standby was created (2009) show:

..

  Media Recovery Log <log name>
  Errors with log <log name>
  ORA-00279 signalled ..
..

  ALTER DATABASE RECOVER CANCEL
..

for *every* archive log that arrives.

I found this site: http://www.dbvisit.com/knowledgebase.php , which says that at least the ORA-00279 is *normal* behaviour, but is it? Why would Oracle throw an error if it is in fact chugging along fine? I am unsure if this standby is in fact reliable. Can anyone shed light on this?

Thanks,
Tony

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