Name: BonziBUDDY Category: Adware Advice: Remove Risk: Elevated Risk Elevated threats are usually threats that fall into the range of adware in which data about a user's habits are tracked and sent back to a server for analysis without your consent or knowledge. Description: Bonzi buddy is a downloaded 'helper' application for the Bonzi site which tracks your online activities to deliver 'relevant' content (ie. advertising) to your PC. You may remember Bonzi Buddy from his earlier days as a talking green parrot before he morphed into a purple ape. The program features this ape who talks, tells jokes and learns all about you. The program also prompts users for personal information, tracks usage, adds icons and programs to the PC and often resets the browser homepage to BONZI.COM without asking permission. Bonzi Buddy is actively distributed from Bonzi.com. Bonzi Buddy is installed on your computer when choosing to install him. Bonzi also installs other syware and adware including: SaveNow Weather Cast Clock Sync Bonzi Buddy delivers contextual advertising to the end user. It is displayed on your PC based on a profile it builds about your surfing habits that is collected and stored on a file on your computer while you browse the internet. The Bonzi program gradually builds incentives and pressure to join the 'Bonzi' site featuring advertisements highlighting membership and 'add-ons' (for a fee of course). Installation begins easily enough with a simple download from the Bonzi site which offers the program for free. Naturally, the first question when installation begins is whether you would like to make the Bonzi site your homepage which allows the use of all of Bonzi's 'cool' features. Although I'm not sure why exactly the Bonzi homepage needs to be set as the default to use some of these features I chose 'yes' during the install. Signatures: process: bbsetupad1.exe: MD5 Hash: 25711265e0cc72791c4... process: bbsmartsetup.exe: MD5 Hash: cd7de25757e6293c42d... process: bbsmartsetup.exe: MD5 Hash: 20b21f22cc3fc3629d8... process: bbsmartstubfal.exe: MD5 Hash: 0443cfabdac4c2fb0bb... process: bbuddymini.exe: MD5 Hash: c9f9be4f6f42b3e2bdf... process: bonzibdy.exe: MD5 Hash: a7543c808631bd3306e... process: bonzibdy.exe: MD5 Hash: 3f3ed21ad49fd54f249... process: bonzibdy.exe: MD5 Hash: f21a2ce1ed584bec1a1... process: wcinst.exe: MD5 Hash: ... process: savenowinst.exe: MD5 Hash: ... process: bbsetuppop.exe: MD5 Hash: d36eed536ae7fce5aaf... process: bbsmartsetup.exe: MD5 Hash: 42e86f9517b06f98416... process: bonzibdy.exe: MD5 Hash: a20acb742e974c606fa.. Type: Adware - Adware is generally software that displays advertisements. Some advertisers may covertly install adware on your system and generate a stream of unsolicited advertisements that can clutter your desktop and affect your productivity. The advertisements may also contain pornographic or other material that you might find inappropriate. The extra processing required to track you or to display advertisements can tax your computer and hurt your system performance.