Secret Agent Joe The Gorilla - Spying On PC Users For Years (bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/startpage.asp)

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/startpage.asp
Date:	15/06/02 (13085 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: port sniffing, spyware, adware

Bonzi Buddy is one of those annoying programs which frequently tries to foist itself upon you whilst surfing the net. Bonzi's banner ads seem to be everywhere, pop-ups too and occasionally you'll be prompted to accept an unsolicited download of the program whilst surfing around. Its also a program which is often included with other free downloads and prompts to install OR installs itself silently without prompting in the background, to spring into life the next time you restart your computer. Ugh! Most of those they snare will be children due to the very nature of the program and novice internet users, who are also the least likely to actually do any kind of investigation into what the software does - and what it does ain't good.

I'm almost loathe to tell you what it actually does, because it does sound quite good - very good in fact for a freebie download. The 'Buddy' in the Bonzi Buddy download is a cute purple 3D gorilla(or a parrot in the old version) called Joe who is animated using MS Agent technology which enables it to speak to you and move about your desktop. Joe becomes your friend online, helping you browse, manage your downloads, alerting you when you have email, finding better prices while shopping, telling jokes, singing songs, remembering special dates and a whole lot more. You can also buy upgrade plug-ins for the software which have various functions such as making Joe voice activated, adding more information to his knowledge base(more games, songs, jokes etc.) and allowing him to read your email aloud to you. Joe is cute and friendly and actually provides some very useful functions all bult in to one software package although nothing you can't find elsewhere...

...but thats enough of the good points, because if you have an ounce of common sense you will NOT want it!

The free version of Bonzi Buddy is adware, in other words its not really free, but instead dear sweet Joe, spends most of his time

trying to sell you something rather than being useful or entertaining. Joe wants your money and he'll keep telling you that until you give in or uninstall him! He also wants to tell you about bonzi.com's advertising partners and will do so frequently - and they're all American based and useless to UK users anyway from my last, brief experience. When he's not doing that he's being 'entertaining', which soon turns to 'annoying'. Imagine reading/rating on Dooyoo, perhaps doing some internet banking or searching for some important information for a dissertation and being constantly prompted to upgrade the software, download a plug-in, visit a partner site, listen to a joke, fun fact or any of its other silly antics. Most people seem to spend much of their time trying to avoid ads and pop-ups - hence pop-up killers, banner washers etc. - so aren't going to want to install something onto their system which multiplies their occurence by a factor of 10! Unfortunately, adware and the fact that Joe becomes very tiresome, very quickly isn't the half of it.

Bonzi Buddy is also recognised by all spyware removal software as being a threat. Anyone downloading the software will find no EULA and no promise of privacy protection. Some anti-spyware companies posed questions about htis to the bonzi.com support staff around 2 years ago and the response was something along the lines of "we've been meaning to do that, it'll be included soon" yet still it still hasn't arrived. Of course, its not going to(the loose privacy blurb on the website refers SOLELY to the website itself, not their software) because Bonzi Buddy is anything but respectful of privacy. After installation of Bonzi Buddy, users will find their anti-virus software being none too happy about its presence (its not a virus, but it is a non-spreading trojan) and if they happen to own a firewall they'll notice it working overtime blocking an a
lmost
constant stream of unauthorised data leaving their system.

Bonzi Buddy installs a hidden file at /windows/explorer/explorer.exe (not to be confused with the legitimate /windows/explorer.exe) and another called dlder.exe, both of which are recognised by anti-virus software as backdoor spyware trojans. These record user activity on the web and return the infected user's unique ID, IP address, web browser and all URLs vsited to an IP address somewhere in the US. You might think "so what? I've nothing to hide", but consider this info. also contains usernames and passwords and it starts looking less innocuous. Also ask yourself why you should put up with internet companies profiting from spying on your activities anyway.

If that isn't enough to put you off(then what the hell is?) then I'd add that a search around the web will find it littered with horror stories about Bonzi Buddy doing the kind of damage to a system which requires a complete reinstallation to put right. I'm not talking about the occasional isolated case either, it seems to be an extremely poorly written piece of software as well as everything else. Frankly, I think you'd have to be mad to download and install something like this, but there are those out there who not only do, but also pay a subscription charge to the site for the priviledge of using it!

I find this software particularly reprehensible because it targets kids and novice internet users who will probably think its the best thing since sliced bread and will have never heard of spyware, trojans or such like. If you do have this installed I would recommend uninstalling it immediately, but also backing up important data first because of its apparently unstable nature and for those who are yet to experience its delights - avoid it like the plague!

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