~BonziBUDDY

Sir Travis D · 05-06-2008, 02:04 AM

Here is a review and summary of bonzibuddy.

Bonzi buddy. Here is a summary from wikipedia. Only this paragraph.

"BonziBUDDY, sometimes spelled Bonzi Buddy, BonziBuddy, or BONZIBuddy, (misspelled Bonzai Buddy) was an on-screen "intelligent software agent" from BONZI Software, released in 1999 and discontinued in 2005. The official website stated it would help a person explore the Internet through various functions along with their own sidekick. It first surfaced as a green talking parrot, before taking the form of an animated purple gorilla that resided on a user's desktop and communicated through the employment of Microsoft Agent technology.

BonziBuddy received wide recognition as malware, predominantly as a piece of adware, though claims of spyware capabilities have been made against it." ------

BonziBUDDY was originally, around 1999, a green parrot shown here, based on microsoft agent "peedy".

Around 2000 or 2001, BonziBUDDY had a major change in interface. Bonzi was changed into a purple gorilla, with the same name. He is shown here.

BonziBUDDY has been labeled as spyware by many, and was discontinued in 2004 for asking people their ages. Some people got upset because people under 13 were telling the program their ages.

Well, about a month ago, I was a member of notebookreview's forum. I posted a huge article on how bonzi buddy was SAFE after 2004. I will try to summarize it here, and how I have a working BonziBUDDY.

Now, as some of you know, you cannot download a working bonzibuddy, because bonzi's servers have "deleted" him. In 2003, about a year before bonzi was discontinued, I downloaded him on my laptop with windows 95, and it took forever, but I got him to work on my new computer. Here's How.

I went to a Japanese website from 1999, and downloaded peedy's installation files. This version, the parrot, did not require bonzi to access BonziBUDDY's servers. After installing peedy on my laptop, I had a working version from 1999. But, I wanted the ape version from 2001. However, it was obviously "impossible" because the servers were down forever. What I did was transfer the bonzibuddy .acf (agent character file) file to my new computer. I named it peedy like the parrot was named, and I had what looked like the gorilla, but was still the shell and voice of peedy the parrot. Now, this part took me weeks to find. What I did was downloaded MASS or microsoft agent scripting software. Each time I want to start the gorilla bonzi, I open MASS, open the character file of the gorilla, and set the TTS voice to the 2nd male voice. After I get the voice, I open the actual bonzi buddy program separately. As long as I have MASS open, I have it working.

How is BonziBUDDY a good program? He can still check my pop email, read me jokes and facts, speak what I type, and read web pages aloud.

Here is the most important part of this review. Why do I think BonziBUDDY is no longer harmful?

I opened peedy's character file in microsoft notepad, and got several links. These links told peedy what to send to what website. All of these links were relating to bonzi.com in some way. Some told bonzi what to update, and some told bonzi where to send it's data. I will list some links here.

http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/yesno.asp
http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/bbregisteruser.asp
http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/productoffer.asp (outdated pricing from 1999!)
http://webserver1.bonzi.com/scripts
http://www.bonzi.com/support/bdymenu.htm
http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/b17goldtap.asp

All of those links are outdated, or do not work. They were found in bonziBUDDY's files.

Here's something interesting... if you open this file (bonzi buddy uses it)
http://buddy.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/products.nbd - open with notepad to read it
here is what that nbd file says "<prcode=B17GOLD><prreg=B17><prtap=LSCCSSEI><prnam e=Fully Loaded Add-On><prplay=Explain><prdesc=Fully Loaded Add-On><prurl=http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/b17goldtap.asp><prwallet=><prdownload=><prsize=0>< aintrop2=[pl=Wave][sp=Hey there {username}! Did you realize that you can load me up with all of my cool new features by simply going to my Add-Ons page and clicking on the 'Become a BonziBUDDY Gold Member' button!][pl=Explain3][sp=Plus, I think I can even save us some very nice pennies if we do it this way!][pl=Greet][sp=I like to pride myself on being a great deal maker for you {username}!][sp=If this is something your interested in having me show you, just let me know!]><apromptp2=Hey there {username}! Did you realize that you can load me up with all of my cool new features by simply going to my Add-Ons page and clicking on the 'Become a BonziBUDDY Gold Member' button! Plus, I think I can even save us some very nice pennies if we do it this way! I like to pride myself on being a great deal maker for you {username}! If this is something your interested in having me show you, just let me know!><aexityesp2=[pl=Acknowledge]><aexitnop2=[pl=Sad]>" -

The only things bonzi buddy can do on the internet involving it's site is this kind of thing - you ask it a joke, it goes to this webpage and gets the code - this code is what bonzi tells you - it tells you about becoming a "gold club" member for a little price. If you press no, bonzi would play the "sad" emotion. The only thing bonzi does is get information from the web's nbd files which tell it how to act.

The only thing bonziBUDDY can do is create registry files, and set IE's homepage to bonzi.com. He can no longer successfully send private information, or contact it's server.

sniperchang · 05-07-2008, 12:55 AM

haha, I remember Bonzi Buddy. He was so useless, the only reason my friends would download him, was just to make him talk! He can't properly pronounce many things which was funny. Other than that he would change the home page and pop in when unwanted, always promoting to buy useless crap, etc.

I'd classify him as a harmless annoying Trojan!

Interested · 05-07-2008, 01:12 AM

lol.....i remember bonzi! this was back in 2000 when i had a pentium 3 450mhz machine! omg...i miss those days!

g25racer · 05-07-2008, 01:21 AM

Sounds like the annoying dog helper on macs, right?

epidemik · 05-07-2008, 01:33 AM

Aww he was good to me.
Kept me company late at night. Id make him talk and then talk back to him.

...not really but I do remember him.
He was annoying.

GSAV55 · 05-07-2008, 01:43 AM

When I had him, I accidentally forgot to turn it off one night. My dad was out on a business trip, and all we had was one family computer just outside my mom's room. My mom thought that someone had broken into our house and was watching her through her bedroom door and waiting for her, because she could hear it breathing, sighing occasionally, and giggling every now and then. She ended up calling the cops, heh, we did have Bonzibuddy very long after that...

Vizy93 · 05-07-2008, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSAV55

When I had him, I accidentally forgot to turn it off one night. My dad was out on a business trip, and all we had was one family computer just outside my mom's room. My mom thought that someone had broken into our house and was watching her through her bedroom door and waiting for her, because she could hear it breathing, sighing occasionally, and giggling every now and then. She ended up calling the cops, heh, we did have Bonzibuddy very long after that...

Lol, did u get in trouble?

Interested · 05-07-2008, 02:02 AM

/\/\/\/\/\ Lol!!!!!!

sniperchang · 05-07-2008, 02:52 AM

hahahaha!

GSAV55 · 05-19-2008, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vizy93

Lol, did u get in trouble?

lol, she was really pissed, and made me delete it, but i was really young then, and I didnt even wake up when the cops came.

05-06-2008, 02:04 AM	#1 (permalink)
Sir Travis D Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Age: 14 Posts: 1,070	~BonziBUDDY - Fact and Fiction~ Here is a review and summary of bonzibuddy. Bonzi buddy. Here is a summary from wikipedia. Only this paragraph. "BonziBUDDY, sometimes spelled Bonzi Buddy, BonziBuddy, or BONZIBuddy, (misspelled Bonzai Buddy) was an on-screen "intelligent software agent" from BONZI Software, released in 1999 and discontinued in 2005. The official website stated it would help a person explore the Internet through various functions along with their own sidekick. It first surfaced as a green talking parrot, before taking the form of an animated purple gorilla that resided on a user's desktop and communicated through the employment of Microsoft Agent technology. BonziBuddy received wide recognition as malware, predominantly as a piece of adware, though claims of spyware capabilities have been made against it." ------ BonziBUDDY was originally, around 1999, a green parrot shown here, based on microsoft agent "peedy". Around 2000 or 2001, BonziBUDDY had a major change in interface. Bonzi was changed into a purple gorilla, with the same name. He is shown here. BonziBUDDY has been labeled as spyware by many, and was discontinued in 2004 for asking people their ages. Some people got upset because people under 13 were telling the program their ages. Well, about a month ago, I was a member of notebookreview's forum. I posted a huge article on how bonzi buddy was SAFE after 2004. I will try to summarize it here, and how I have a working BonziBUDDY. Now, as some of you know, you cannot download a working bonzibuddy, because bonzi's servers have "deleted" him. In 2003, about a year before bonzi was discontinued, I downloaded him on my laptop with windows 95, and it took forever, but I got him to work on my new computer. Here's How. I went to a Japanese website from 1999, and downloaded peedy's installation files. This version, the parrot, did not require bonzi to access BonziBUDDY's servers. After installing peedy on my laptop, I had a working version from 1999. But, I wanted the ape version from 2001. However, it was obviously "impossible" because the servers were down forever. What I did was transfer the bonzibuddy .acf (agent character file) file to my new computer. I named it peedy like the parrot was named, and I had what looked like the gorilla, but was still the shell and voice of peedy the parrot. Now, this part took me weeks to find. What I did was downloaded MASS or microsoft agent scripting software. Each time I want to start the gorilla bonzi, I open MASS, open the character file of the gorilla, and set the TTS voice to the 2nd male voice. After I get the voice, I open the actual bonzi buddy program separately. As long as I have MASS open, I have it working. How is BonziBUDDY a good program? He can still check my pop email, read me jokes and facts, speak what I type, and read web pages aloud. Here is the most important part of this review. Why do I think BonziBUDDY is no longer harmful? I opened peedy's character file in microsoft notepad, and got several links. These links told peedy what to send to what website. All of these links were relating to bonzi.com in some way. Some told bonzi what to update, and some told bonzi where to send it's data. I will list some links here. http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/yesno.asp http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/bbregisteruser.asp http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/productoffer.asp (outdated pricing from 1999!) http://webserver1.bonzi.com/scripts http://www.bonzi.com/support/bdymenu.htm http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/b17goldtap.asp All of those links are outdated, or do not work. They were found in bonziBUDDY's files. Here's something interesting... if you open this file (bonzi buddy uses it) http://buddy.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/products.nbd - open with notepad to read it here is what that nbd file says "<prcode=B17GOLD><prreg=B17><prtap=LSCCSSEI><prnam e=Fully Loaded Add-On><prplay=Explain><prdesc=Fully Loaded Add-On><prurl=http://www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/b17goldtap.asp><prwallet=><prdownload=><prsize=0>< aintrop2=[pl=Wave][sp=Hey there {username}! Did you realize that you can load me up with all of my cool new features by simply going to my Add-Ons page and clicking on the 'Become a BonziBUDDY Gold Member' button!][pl=Explain3][sp=Plus, I think I can even save us some very nice pennies if we do it this way!][pl=Greet][sp=I like to pride myself on being a great deal maker for you {username}!][sp=If this is something your interested in having me show you, just let me know!]><apromptp2=Hey there {username}! Did you realize that you can load me up with all of my cool new features by simply going to my Add-Ons page and clicking on the 'Become a BonziBUDDY Gold Member' button! Plus, I think I can even save us some very nice pennies if we do it this way! I like to pride myself on being a great deal maker for you {username}! If this is something your interested in having me show you, just let me know!><aexityesp2=[pl=Acknowledge]><aexitnop2=[pl=Sad]>" - The only things bonzi buddy can do on the internet involving it's site is this kind of thing - you ask it a joke, it goes to this webpage and gets the code - this code is what bonzi tells you - it tells you about becoming a "gold club" member for a little price. If you press no, bonzi would play the "sad" emotion. The only thing bonzi does is get information from the web's nbd files which tell it how to act. The only thing bonziBUDDY can do is create registry files, and set IE's homepage to bonzi.com. He can no longer successfully send private information, or contact it's server. __________________ Alienware Area-51 M15x Owner Thinking of getting a Camera? Read this first. http://www.computerforum.com/125639-...ml#post1026478 Last edited by Sir Travis D; 05-06-2008 at 08:30 PM. Reason: changed links

05-07-2008, 12:55 AM	#2 (permalink)
sniperchang Diamond Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 1,000	haha, I remember Bonzi Buddy. He was so useless, the only reason my friends would download him, was just to make him talk! He can't properly pronounce many things which was funny. Other than that he would change the home page and pop in when unwanted, always promoting to buy useless crap, etc. I'd classify him as a harmless annoying Trojan! __________________ CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Skt939 Toledo @ 2.4Ghz Motherboard: Asus A8V-E SE VidCard(s): BFG 9800GTX 512MB PCI-E; eVGA 6200 PCI (Secondary) Mem: Corsair 2x1 gb TWINX C2 PT XMS HardDrive: Western Digital 8m Cache 250GB 7200RPM Monitor(s): 2x CRT 17" Phillips 107B5/107T6 and LCD 22"wide Samsung 226BW (Triple Display) Multiple Display 101

05-07-2008, 01:12 AM	#3 (permalink)
Interested Platinum Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: PA Age: 13 Posts: 737	lol.....i remember bonzi! this was back in 2000 when i had a pentium 3 450mhz machine! omg...i miss those days! __________________ Main: \| On The Go Device: Q6600 \| 620MHz ARM 1176 4GB DDR2 800 \| 128MB DRAM P35-DS3L \| 16GB Samsung NAND 250GB seagate disk X2 \| PowerVR MBX 3D 8600GT

05-07-2008, 01:21 AM	#4 (permalink)
g25racer Diamond Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3,583	Sounds like the annoying dog helper on macs, right? __________________ CPU - AMD Athlon 64x2 5200+ @ 2.6ghz Ram - 2GB Stock clock HD - 320gb seagate & Samsung 750gb 32mb cache GPU - XFX 8600GT XXX Zalman @ 680 or 700mhz PSU - Ultra X-finity 600watt OS - Vista Home Premium(32) & XP Pro and Vista Audio - JVC 460watts Control - Logitech G25 Wheel & Logitech Rumblepad 2 Games - GTR2 and LFS -- Race Sim's for Life --

05-07-2008, 01:33 AM	#5 (permalink)
epidemik Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Ashland Oregon Age: 16 Posts: 2,246	Aww he was good to me. Kept me company late at night. Id make him talk and then talk back to him. ...not really but I do remember him. He was annoying. __________________ Current PC (New one coming late July) Athlon 2000 nVidia 6200 1 GB RAM 19 + 40 GB HD CD Reader last.fm : Steam Profile CF xFire Group: Click Here Then PM Me If You Apply

05-07-2008, 01:43 AM	#6 (permalink)
GSAV55 Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: FL Age: 18 Posts: 417	When I had him, I accidentally forgot to turn it off one night. My dad was out on a business trip, and all we had was one family computer just outside my mom's room. My mom thought that someone had broken into our house and was watching her through her bedroom door and waiting for her, because she could hear it breathing, sighing occasionally, and giggling every now and then. She ended up calling the cops, heh, we did have Bonzibuddy very long after that... __________________ Acer 24" wide screen 2ms 1920x1200 Asus M2N-E nForce 500 SLI 2x XFX GeForce 7900GTX SLI 2gb OCZ DDR2 RAM AMD 64 x2 5600+ 3.02Ghz 550watt X2 Ultra modular PSU 250gb Seagate Barracuda G15 Gaming Keyboard

05-07-2008, 02:02 AM	#8 (permalink)
Interested Platinum Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: PA Age: 13 Posts: 737	/\/\/\/\/\ Lol!!!!!! __________________ Main: \| On The Go Device: Q6600 \| 620MHz ARM 1176 4GB DDR2 800 \| 128MB DRAM P35-DS3L \| 16GB Samsung NAND 250GB seagate disk X2 \| PowerVR MBX 3D 8600GT

05-07-2008, 02:52 AM	#9 (permalink)
sniperchang Diamond Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 1,000	hahahaha! __________________ CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Skt939 Toledo @ 2.4Ghz Motherboard: Asus A8V-E SE VidCard(s): BFG 9800GTX 512MB PCI-E; eVGA 6200 PCI (Secondary) Mem: Corsair 2x1 gb TWINX C2 PT XMS HardDrive: Western Digital 8m Cache 250GB 7200RPM Monitor(s): 2x CRT 17" Phillips 107B5/107T6 and LCD 22"wide Samsung 226BW (Triple Display) Multiple Display 101

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