BonziBuddy ( or , stylized as BonziBUDDY) is a discontinued
freeware
Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...
desktop
virtual assistant
A virtual assistant (VA) is a software agent that can perform a range of tasks or services for a user based on user input such as commands or questions, including verbal ones. Such technologies often incorporate chatbot capabilities to streaml ...
created by Joe and Jay Bonzi. Upon a user's choice, it would share jokes and facts, manage downloads, sing songs, and talk, among other functions.
BonziBuddy was described as
spyware
Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's securit ...
and
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying Online advertising, online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installatio ...
, and was discontinued in 2004 after Bonzi Software, Inc. faced lawsuits and fines regarding the software.
The software received a final update removing the offending features, and remained available on the Bonzi.com website until 2005. The Bonzi.com
web portal
A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...
remained open until its closure in late 2008.
Design
The software used
Microsoft Agent technology, originally developed for
Office Assistant
The Office Assistant is a discontinued intelligent user interface for Microsoft Office that assisted users by way of an interactive animated character which user interface, interfaced with the Office help content. It was included in Microsoft Off ...
, and initially used Peedy, a green
parrot
Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...
provided as a default character alongside Agent. In May 2000, BonziBuddy received an update featuring its own character: Bonzi, a purple gorilla. The program also used a
text-to-speech
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or Computer hardware, hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system conv ...
voice to interact with the user. The voice, named Sydney, was part of the
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (L&H) was a Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001 because of a fraud engineered by the management. The company was based in Ypres, ...
Microsoft Speech API 4.0 package. It is also referred to in some software as Adult Male #2.
In 2002, an article in
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy.
Founded ...
''Web Watch'' labeled BonziBuddy as
spyware
Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's securit ...
, stating that it contains a backdoor trojan that collects information from users. The activities the program is said to engage in include constantly resetting the user's
web browser
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...
homepage
A home page (or homepage) is the main web page of a website. Usually, the home page is located at the Root directory, root of the website's Domain name, domain or subdomain. For example, if the domain is example.com, the home page is likely l ...
to bonzi.com without the user's permission, prompting and tracking various information about the user, installing a
browser toolbar
A browser toolbar is a toolbar that resides within a browser's window. All major web browsers provide support to browser toolbar development as a way to extend the browser's GUI and functionality. Browser toolbars are considered to be a particu ...
, and serving advertisements.
Trend Micro
is an American-Japanese cyber security software company. The company has globally dispersed R&D in 16 locations across every continent excluding Antarctica. The company develops enterprise security software for servers, containers, and cloud ...
and
Symantec have both classified the software as
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying Online advertising, online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installatio ...
. ''Spyware Guide''s entry on the program also states that it is adware.
Reception
A March 2004 newspaper article written about BonziBuddy described it as spyware and a "scourge of the Internet".
Another article found in 2006 on the
BusinessWeek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
website described BonziBuddy as "the unbelievably annoying spyware
trojan horse
In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...
".
In April 2007, ''
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online-only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...
'' readers voted BonziBuddy sixth in a list named "The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products". One reader was quoted as criticizing the program because it "kept popping up and obscuring things you needed to see".
Lawsuits
''Internetnews.com'' reported the settlement of a class action suit on 27 May 2003. Originally brought against Bonzi Software on 4 December 2002, the suit accused Bonzi of using its
banner ad
A web banner or banner ad is a Online Advertising, form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract web traffic, tra ...
vertisements to deceptively imitate
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
computer alerts, alerting the user that their
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...
is being broadcast. When clicked, including on the "close" button of the false
dialog box
In computing, a dialog box (also simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response.
Dialog boxes are classified as " modal" or "modeless", dep ...
, the advertisements led the user to marketing web pages for affiliated products, including Bonzi Software's own ''InternetAlert'' and ''InternetBoost''. In the settlement, Bonzi Software agreed to modify their ads so that they looked less like Windows dialog boxes and more like actual advertisements.
On February 18, 2004, the
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...
released a statement indicating that Bonzi Software, Inc. was ordered to pay US$75,000 in fees, among other aspects, for violating the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is ...
by collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 with BonziBuddy.
The original complaint additionally asserts that protection provided by the US$49 InternetAlert is limited, failing to meet the product's advertised claims.
Legacy
While being seen as a nuisance when the product was actively operating, the software received notoriety in retrospect as an
internet meme
An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
. It is viewed
nostalgically as a legacy of computing in the
Web 1.0 era, and often compared to the Office Assistant and unwanted browser toolbars. A 2017 article by ''How-To Geek'' names it a "terrible application" that "had its charm", providing creativity despite its unwanted features.
In the late 2000s, several parody
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
videos were uploaded featuring the Bonzi gorilla character and its synthesized voice.
In February 2014, BonziBuddy was repopularized by the
Vinesauce
Vinesauce is a collective of online content creators founded in 2010. The group primarily focuses on video game livestreaming and commentary videos. The group is most notable for content in which video games are corrupted to cause glitches, a ...
video "Windows XP Destruction".
As of June 2025, the video has 9.7 million views.
Today, fan-made websites continue to host the original BonziBuddy website and software. In 2007, a parody was released for
Mac OS X
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
.
In 2024, the software was replicated by a community project named BonziBuddy Rewritten.
See also
*
Digital pet
A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, or as an alternative to a real pet.
Digital pets have no conc ...
*
Prody Parrot
*
Talking Moose
References
{{refs
1999 software
Adware
Freeware
Spyware
Fictional gorillas
Products and services discontinued in 2004
Windows trojans
Human–computer interaction