One of the last newspaper articles written about BonziBuddy while it was still in distribution described it as spyware and a 'scourge of the Internet'. One reader was quoted as criticizing the program because it 'kept popping up and obscuring things you needed to see'. In April 2007, PC World readers voted BonziBuddy the sixth on a list named 'The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products'. Spyware Guide 's entry on the program also states that it is adware. Trend Micro and Symantec have both classified the software as adware. The activities the program is said to engage in include constantly resetting the user's web browser homepage to without the user's permission, prompting and tracking various information about the user, installing a toolbar, and serving advertisements. In 2002, an article in Consumer Reports Web Watch labeled BonziBuddy as spyware, stating that it contains a backdoor trojan that collects information from users. It is often referred to in some software as Adult Male #2.Ī number of sources identify BonziBuddy as spyware, a claim the company disputed. The voice was called Sydney and taken from an old Lernout & Hauspie Microsoft Speech API 4.0 package. The program also used a text-to-speech voice to interact with the user.

Later versions of BonziBuddy in May 2000 featured its own character: Bonzi, a purple gorilla. The software used Microsoft Agent technology similar to Office Assistant, and originally sported Peedy, a green parrot and one of the characters available with Microsoft Agent. Bonzi's website remained open after the discontinuation of BonziBuddy, but was shut down at the end of 2008. Upon a user's choice, it would share jokes and facts, manage downloads, sing songs, and talk, among other functions, as it used Microsoft Agent.īonziBuddy was described as spyware and adware, and discontinued in 2004 after the company behind it faced lawsuits regarding the software and was ordered to pay fines. iː/ BON-zee-bud-ee, stylized as BonziBUDDY) was a freeware desktop virtual assistant created by Joe and Jay Bonzi. Virtual Assistant, Adware, Spyware, MalwareīonziBuddy ( / ˈ b ɒ n z i b ʌ d.

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