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Overview |
Summary: |
 Adware. Brings targeted ads to your computer, after you provide initial consent for this task. Track your browsing habits and reports this info to a central server.
ConsumerWebWatch refers to BonziBuddy as a "Backdoor Santa": a stand-alone program that have no links to adware networks or no ad-serving, per se, but that collect information from users. Serves adds, frequently prompts users for personal information, tracks all usage, deposits icons in the startup folder, system tray and on the desktop, repeatedly resets the browser homepage to BONZI.COM without asking permission, and leaves components behind after users use its uninstall program. |
Category: |
Spyware: Any product that employs a user's Internet connection in the background without their knowledge or explicit permission, and gathers/transmits info on the user, their machine, or their behavior. Adware: Software that brings ads to your computer. Such ads may or may not be targeted, but are "injected" and/or popup, and are not merely displayed within the form of an ad-sponsored application. Toolbar: A group of buttons which perform common tasks. A toolbar for Internet Explorer is nomally located below the menu bar at the top of the form. Toolbars may be created by Browser Helper Objects. |
Similar Pests: |
Spyware · Adware · Toolbar |
Origins |
Group: |
Bonzi.com Software, Inc. |
Mailing Address: |
Bonzi Software, Inc. P.O. Box 1222 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 USA |
EMail: |
support@bonzi.com |
URL: |
http://www.bonzi.com/ |
Date of Origin: |
October, 2001 |
Distribution |
Distribution: |
Via user download from www.bonzi.com and many software distibution sites. |
Prevalence: |
BonziBuddy: 0.1% of all pest reports (86 per 100,000 reports) More Info |
Clot Factor: |
BonziBuddy: On average, 9 objects detected in each machine The "Clot Factor" is a measure of how much a pest "gums up" a machine by adding registry entries, files, and directories. As more objects are placed in a machine, manual removal becomes more difficult and more error-prone. |
Countries Affected: |
In the past three months, we have received reports of BonziBuddy in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States. |
Growth: |
BonziBuddy: Insufficient data to report growth |
Operation |
Advertising: |
Yes. |
Storage Required: |
at least 17237KB |
Browser Performance: |
Likely to slow performance of Internet Explorer. |
Risks |
Privacy Issues: |
Yes. |
Privacy Policy: |
"Personal information is collected when users voluntarily register for membership services ... One method of collecting aggregate information about your activities online (such as the pages you access most frequently or the search terms you enter), and information volunteered by you (such as survey or registration information), is by tracking Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. ... We may receive personal usage and demographic information from our third-party partners, and we also collect e-mail addresses from users who send us support mail ... The computers that deliver the Web pages to you automatically identify your computer by its IP address. When you request a page from one of our sites, our servers log your IP address. ... As a measure of user interest, we track search terms that are entered into our sites' search features. ... Our sites use 'cookies' to record information. ... BONZI.COM shares aggregate information with third parties for advertising and promotional purposes." See here for more detail. |
Security Issues: |
Will retrieve other unwanted software, such as ClickTillUWin. |
Stability Issues: |
None known. |
Detection and Removal |
Automatic Removal: |
 PestPatrol detects this.
PestPatrol removes this.
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Manual Removal: |
- Close the Bonzi Buddy Program. Click on Bonzi and say "Goodbye" to close him. Next, Right-click on the dollar sign icon next to your clock and choose "Exit."
- Close the little dollar sign icon on the system tray.
- Now click on Start > Programs > BonziBUDDY > Uninstall BonziBUDDY Bargain Hunting Tool and allow the uninstall program to finish. Let the uninstall program remove the shared files.
- Go to Start > Programs > BonziBUDDY > Uninstall BonziBUDDY and allow the uninstall program to complete. Let the uninstall program remove the shared files.
- Do a file search, and type bonzi. Delete all files that show up.
- Run a registry cleaner and remove all references to Bonzi Buddy.
- Restart your computer.
If the uninstall fails, you might try re-installing from here and then following steps 1-7 for uninstalling. |
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Stop Running Processes:
Kill these running processes with Task Manager:
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Remove AutoRun Reference:
Go To the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
If you find the value bonzibuddy, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
If you find the value clickthebutton, delete it and reboot the machine immediately.
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Unregister DLLs:
Unregister these DLLs with Regsvr32, then reboot:
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Clean Registry:
Remove these registry items (if present) with RegEdit:
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Remove Files:
Remove these files (if present) with Windows Explorer:
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Remove Directories:
Remove these directories (if present) with Windows Explorer:
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Research |
File Analyses: |
bbsetupad1.exe
· bbsmartsetup.exe
· bbsmartsetup.exe
· bbsmartstubfal.exe
· bbuddymini.exe
· bonzi.acs
· bonzi.url
· bonzibdy.exe
· bonzibdy.exe
· bonzibdy.exe
· bonzibuddy.lnk
· bonzibuddy.lnk
· bonzibuddyuninstall.exe
· bonzictb.dll
· bonzitapfilters.dll
· uninstall bonzibuddy.lnk
· webcompass.dll
· webcompassbar.dll
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More Info: |
AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, HotBot, Lycos, LookSmart, MSN, Yahoo! |
Research By: |
PestPatrol's Pest Research Center |
Last Revised: |
April 23, 2004 |
Copyright: |
© 2004 PestPatrol, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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