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Actully it's Bonzi Buddy. You can download it free from http://download.bonzi.com/freebuddy/wd/bbsetuphom. exe May contain traces of spyware.

That was my first thought: Bonzi Buddy! But this IMSmarter seems like the first cross-platform "spyware" if it's not installing anything and just using IM protocols. At least, you won't get viruses with this one, just a big privacy invasion.

'Jeesus, Ben, stop sending me that gd Bonzai Buddy trash! I don't care if it's cute, that little bastard screwed up my internet settings! I lost a weeks worth of work!'

What did it say?
It told me i need viagra.

Well, it didn't tell me much, but it did reset my homepage to www.bonzi.com, just in case I needed to know more about purple gorilla manufacturers. How nice of him...

that they left in the ever welcome Bonzi Buddy

Offtopic? WTF? The parent is right!

I'm sorry, but people like "Mr Soto" are the ones holding the dicks of the spammers pissing in the collective Internet swimming pool. He should stay away from the Internet, and probably has more spyshit than anyone else.

"Oooh, these nice people want me to have a purple monkey that TALKS! So cool!"

"Oooh, they want me to take a survey! I like surveys! And they have a statue! Better help them help me!"

It's dumb fucks who take the whole Internet advertising thing (or even the whole Internet) as being for their benefit and their benefit only who are destroying it piece by piece.

Screw him.

"Interestingly, bonzi.com has been returning connection refused all day. This is usually one of the net's busiest sites."

You can help too! Slashdot the farkers at Bonzi.com!

The agreement, which is scheduled to take effect June 22, will mean all ads that mimic the style of error messages must be clearly labelled as advertisements. Moreover, the ads will not display "minimize," "maximize" or "X" buttons that don't perform their proper function. Buttons that used to be labelled "OK" will now contain the phrase "More Info."

Oh, whatever. Don't emulate the Windows UI, period.

The company also will refrain from claiming that a computer is "broadcasting" its Internet protocol address. Internet protocol addresses are transmitted to Web sites as part of normal Internet browsing. Bonzi's ad implied that such a "broadcast" posed a security problem.

This will be nice, as I've gotten frantic calls from older people I know about these same popups.

However, I just visited Bonzi.com, and got this advertisement. So much for compliance.

http://www.bonzi.com isn't really down.

Kazaa Lite and other applications come with a modified Hosts file you can use to route a number of nasty sites to localhost.

http://www.bonzi.com is one of the sites that are blocked by default.

Very nice. I like it, and it's funny to see IE open a popup that loads my workstation's custom 404 error message instead of sending me to popup Hell. Doubleclick and other sites are in that same custom hosts file.

This could have been ended years ago if Microsoft had dropped a Look & Feel lawsuit on them. After all, they defend even their ownership of the word "Windows".

Actually, it appears Bonzi is business partners with Microsoft. The news on their portal comes from MSNBC.com.

I got this pop-up ad when I went to bonzi.com 2 seconds ago

Seems to be work for me. Maybe your isp blocked that domain on there dns servers. Interestingly anough I got this popup image when I visted the site.

My dad used to use bonzi before I explained what a fool he was for installing spy ware. He like the bonzi-buddy (the little Microsoft Agent Charater) because he could make it talk and it would sing to him.

Anyone remember when Bonzi first came out? I was a tech back then, and almost all of the systems on the campus were crashing and experiencing major slow down for a couple of days. I would run the usual gamut of questions: "Did you install anything new? Are you using AIM or ICQ? How many programs do you have open?". Asking these questions over the phone is futile, but you do it anyways, cause you're a lazy tech and you don't want to leave the air conditioned NOC. So I had to eventually turn off the game of Quake, log out of heat.net, and carry my lazy ass down to all of the offices. It was funny to be half listening to the clerk/professor/secretary/manager telling me about how they "never install anything on their computer" and how they "always run scandisk and the virus scanner on Friday at 4:30pm" and bla bla bla, just as their system grinds to a halt with a big purple ape on the screen jumping out at you, and the jarring blare of a long drawn out "uh ohh!!" that corresponds with the reception of 80 new ICQ messages.

Bonzi Privacy Statement

Highlights:

"...we also collect e-mail addresses from users
who send us support mail or request technical or other help..."

"... our servers log your IP address ..."

"... we share web site usage information about visitors to our sites with such company for the purpose of managing and targeting advertisements on our sites. For this purpose, we and our third-party advertising company note some of the pages you visit on our sites through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs)..."

"Our sites contain links to sites other than our own. Those sites may not follow the same privacy policies as BONZI.COM."

There is no link from the BonziBuddy page to any of this information. But you'd probably expect that ;)

Need a superhero friend?

How about BONZI BUDDY?

Sorry, a Linux version is still in the works, but if you're using Windows, you must get it!

-SexyKellyOsbourne

He was talking about Bonzi Buddy, that spyware program that says what you type. Now that was funny, please mod him up.

"Before any company can collect, use, disclose or sell sensitive information, they would need the consent of individuals, a procedure known as "opt-in."

So your aunt Tudie downloads some stupid purple gorilla 'buddy' with some ass-crack EULA and inadvertently "opts in" to diclosing her medical history. Now a company known for its abuse of privacy can freely share confidential information that is currently under federal protection.

This isn't a bill to protect privacy - it is an assault on what little privacy is left.

If you feel like a laugh, check out the Bonzi Buddy site. Just don't go there with IE - the last time I did, it tried to load that Bonzi TROJAN and install it automatically on my machine. (I am safe now that I use linux.)

The scariest part is that some people actually love this steaming pile of sh*t trojan horse software.

Considering that most major search engines now place links according to payment, it's a short step to turning the browser, or the whole OS into Bonzi Buddy.

Not that I would mind if the OS did some contextual search for me to bring up results while I'm working, but I've seen enough ads for the X10 wireless camera, thank you.

And I've seen a lot of "high-ranking executives" have their BonziBUDDY desktop sidekick remember their password for them...

BonziBUDDY! I sing! I Search! I talk! Heck, I even report market research data behind your back!!! Download Now!

I am ashamed that anyone would intentionally use my Slashdot account name to bolster the popularity and reputation of their sick virus. I'm sure the hackers who created this monstrosity were well versed in such hacker tools as Bonzi Buddy and Lunix. If they think I would come out and support such a destructive screen saver they are very, very wrong. If God wanted toasters to fly, he would have given them wings.

So, you hackers, where ever you are, Goner (of Slashdot lore) does not approve!

Apple Insider was just about the most stupid link I ever followed in Slashdot. Go ahead, visit Apple Insider and learn how to Suck this sort of crap into your machine at three times your normal speed.
I think Slashdot needs a holiday. In any case, I'm going to give them one.