BonziBUDDY comes bundled with freeware and shareware. It also is available by direct download at www.bonzi.com/bonzibuddy/bonzibuddyfreehom.asp.

How To Tell If BonziBUDDY Is On Your PC

You'll see a purple gorilla with a goofy smile that resides on-screen. Also, BonziBUDDY may cause IE to perform sluggishly.

How To Get Rid Of BonziBUDDY With Ad-Aware SE

Most antispyware utilities will detect BonziBUDDY, but whether they completely remove it from your system is another story. For this reason, we recommend that you employ our manual removal method (see the next section for this entry) in your first attempt to remove BonziBUDDY from your PC.

If you prefer to use an antispyware utility, however, we recommend Ad-Aware SE. After downloading and installing the free program, click its Scan Now button to launch a scan of your system. Ad-Aware will scour the contents of your Windows drive looking for evidence of BonziBUDDY and any other programs that aren't supposed to be there. It will probably identify some BonziBUDDY components but is unlikely to target the whole program for removal.

When the scan is complete, click Next and the Critical Objects tab to view a list of malware components that Ad-Aware found. Select all spyware-related items on the list and click the Next button. Click OK when asked to verify that you want to remove the selected objects. Ad-Aware will move the selected items to a quarantine folder. If it cannot remove an item, it will give you the option of canceling its removal or deferring its removal to the next time you reboot. You can close Ad-Aware when the quarantine is complete.

WARNING: The following section includes step-by-step information on how to edit the Windows Registry, a large database containing system and program settings that are essential to how the OS (operating system) operates. Follow Registry-editing instructions to the letter and be sure to make a backup of your Registry before you begin. (Registry errors can render your computer inoperable if you don't have a backup.) This procedure differs depending on the OS you use. For more information on backing up and editing the Registry, see these articles: "Protect Yourself" and "Register Here."

How To Get Rid Of BonziBUDDY Manually

BonziBUDDY comes with its own uninstallers, which make for a relatively pain-free parting . . . provided that the program is whole and intact on your system. If you have reason to believe that some BonziBUDDY files are missing, either because you deleted them or your antispyware utility quarantined them, you should reinstall BonziBUDDY before attempting to uninstall it. Doing so won't harm your system, and it ensures that the BonziBUDDY uninstallers have access to the files they need in order to complete their tasks. You can get BonziBUDDY by visiting its download page at www.bonzi.com
/bonzibuddy/bonzibuddyfreehom.asp. Click the Download BonziBUDDY Now link and install the program.

When the installation is complete, reboot your PC and perform the uninstall. Start by clicking the gorilla and selecting Goodbye from the menu. Next, right-click BonziBUDDY's dollar-sign icon in the System Tray or Notification Area and select Exit from the pop-up menu. This effectively shuts down BonziBUDDY so that it cannot interfere with your efforts to remove it.

Now you're ready to run the uninstallers. Dig through the Start menu to locate the BonziBUDDY folder in your list of installed programs. Open the folder and select the Uninstall BonziBUDDY Bargain Hunting Tool option. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. Next, return to the BonziBUDDY folder and select the Uninstall BonziBUDDY option. Once again, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. When the uninstall is complete, reboot your computer.

Next, open the Control Panel and click Add Or Remove Programs (double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon in Windows Me and Windows 98). In the resulting Add Or Remove Programs (Add/Remove Programs Properties in WinMe and Win98) dialog box, select BonziBUDDY Web Compass (if available) in the list of installed programs, click the Remove or Add/Remove button, and then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstall.

The last step is to delete the all-but-empty BonziBUDDY folder from the hard drive and remove its residue from the Registry. Open My Computer and peruse the contents of the Windows drive (the drive on which Windows is installed) to locate the BonziBUDDY folder. Right-click the folder, click Delete from the pop-up menu, and click Yes to confirm your actions. To launch the Registry Editor, open the Start menu, select Run, type regedit in the field, and click OK.

Open the Registry Editor's Edit menu and select Find. Type bonzi in the Find What field and click the Find Next button. Each time the Registry finds a match, press the DELETE key, click Yes to confirm its removal, and then press F3 to continue the search. Repeat these steps until you receive a message indicating that the search is complete.

After rebooting your PC, you should restore the browser's default start page. Open the Tools menu in IE, select Internet Options, choose the Programs tab, click the Reset Web Settings button, and click OK.

By Jeff Dodd