

The program itself was advertised as an Internet Companion. There were also game add-ons and a speech recognition add-on which was called the 'Talking Add-on Module'. Most things required the purchase of add-ons which would add extra jokes, facts and songs. It could tell jokes, facts, sing songs, download files and keep people on schedule with a calendar. The user would right click on the character and a menu would come up with different things that the character could do.

Most antivirus software picked up the software as Adware. The program is no longer available because it contained a lot of adware, malware, and spyware. It is based on the Microsoft Agent technology. The software was available from 1999 to 2004. This caused the application to receive fame among fans of Vinesauce.BonziBuddy (styled as BonziBUDDY) was a freeware program from BONZI Software. On February 1st, 2014, Joel from the video-streaming site Vinesauce released a video in which BonziBuddy, along with other viruses and malware, were installed on an emulated version of the Windows XP operating system. On April 16th, 2011, a page for BonziBuddy was created on the Internet culture wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica. On October 11th, 2009, an entry for BonziBuddy was created on the Malware Wiki. On July 20th, YouTuber SuperMario157 uploaded a video titled "Bonzi Buddy Speaks," featuring a text-to-speech voice portraying the BonziBuddy gorilla as a sexually deviant computer program (shown below).

On April 16th, 2007, PC World published a list titled "The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products," which ranked BonziBuddy as #6 of all time. On August 3rd, 2003, Urban Dictionary user Joe submitted an entry for "Bonzi Buddy," referring to it as a "stupid spyware program." On September 15th, 2006, PC World listed BonziBuddy as the 8th worst website on the Internet. Several updated iterations of the adware were released by Bonzi Software until 2004, when the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company to pay $75,000 in fines for violating the Children's Online Privacy Act. In addition to adding the BonziBuddy purple monkey assistant, the software would install new search bars to the user's web browsers without their consent. OriginīonziBuddy was initially released by the company Bonzi Software in 2000 on the website. Since its release in 1999, the application garnered much notoriety throughout the 2000s for its spyware capabilities before it was finally discontinued in 2008.

Internet, malware, bonzi world, bonzi buddyĮncyclopedia Dramatica Facebook Urban Dictionary Wikipedia AboutīonziBuddy was an adware and virtual desktop assistant featuring an on-screen avatar of a talking purple gorilla that could interact with its users and run simple utility services like text-to-speech and download management, similar to Microsoft’s office assistant Clippy.
