What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The usefulness of the cookie is that the website is able to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people do not know, cookies have been used for 20 years, when the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.

What is NOT a cookie?

It is not a virus, nor a Trojan, nor a worm, nor spam, nor spyware, nor does it open pop-up windows.

What information does a cookie store?

Cookies do not usually store sensitive information about you, such as credit cards or bank details, photographs, your ID or personal information, etc. The data they store are technical, personal preferences, personalization of content, etc.

The web server does not associate you as a person but with your web browser. In fact, if you regularly browse with Internet Explorer and try browsing the same web with Firefox or Chrome you will see that the web does not realize that you are the same person because you are actually associating the browser, not the person.

What kind of cookies are there?

  • Technical cookies: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user and a registered user browse, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
  • Analysis cookies: They collect information about the type of navigation you are doing, the sections you use most, consulted products, time slot of use, language, etc.
  • Advertising cookies: They display advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.

What are own and third-party cookies?

Own cookies are those generated by the page you are visiting and those of third parties are those generated by services or third-party providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To help you understand the scope of disabling cookies, here are a few examples:

  • You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
  • The website will not be able to adapt the contents to your personal preferences, as is often the case in online stores.
  • You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, such as My Account, or My Profile or My Orders.
  • Online stores: It will be impossible for you to make online purchases, they will have to be telephone or visiting the physical store if you have it.
  • It will not be possible to customize your geographic preferences such as time slot, currency or language.
  • The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and web traffic, which will make it difficult for the website to be competitive.
  • You will not be able to write on the blog, you will not be able to upload photos, post comments, rate or rate content. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
  • You will not be able to display sectorized advertising, which will reduce the advertising revenue of the web.
  • All social networks use cookies, if you disable them you will not be able to use any social networks.

Can cookies be deleted?

Yes. Not only delete, also block, generally or particular for a specific domain.

To delete cookies from a website you must go to your browser settings and there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to its deletion.

Here’s how to access a particular cookie in your Chrome browser. Note: These steps may vary depending on your browser version:

  1. Go to Settings or Preferences using the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.
  2. You will see different sections, click the Show advanced options option.
  3. Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
  4. Select All cookies and site data.
  5. A list will appear with all cookies sorted by domain. To make it easier for you to find cookies for a particular domain, enter the address in the Search for cookies field in part or in the Search for cookies field.
  6. After performing this filter, one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on the screen. Now you just need to select it and press the X to proceed with its removal.

To access the cookie settings of the Internet Explorer browser follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
  2. Click Privacy.
  3. Move the slider until you adjust the level of privacy you want.

To access the Firefox browser cookie settings follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
  2. Click Privacy.
  3. Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
  4. Now you will see the option Accept cookies, you can turn it on or off according to your preferences.

To access the cookie settings of the Safari browser for OSX follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  2. In this place you will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.

To access the cookie settings of Safari browser for iOS follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
  2. Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.

To access the browser cookie settings for Android devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
  2. Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the option Accept cookies to enable or disable the check box.

To access the browser cookie settings for Windows Phone devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
  2. You can now select or clear the Allow cookies checkbox.

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