What is a cookie?
A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The purpose of the cookie is that the website is able to remember your visit when you return to that page. Although many people don’t know it, cookies have been used for 20 years, when the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.
What ISN’T a cookie?
It’s not a virus, a Trojan horse, a worm, spam, spyware, and it doesn’t 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 save are of a technical nature, 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 website 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 types 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 are browsing, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
• Analysis cookies: They collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use the most, products consulted, time zone of use, language, etc.
• Advertising cookies: They show advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are our own cookies and those of third parties?
Own cookies are those generated by the page you are visiting and those of third parties are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Google, etc.
What happens if I turn off cookies?
To help you understand the scope of disabling cookies, here are some examples:
• You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook, 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 purchases online, they will have to be made by phone or by visiting the physical store if you have one.
• It will not be possible to customize your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
• The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic on the web, which will make it difficult for the website to be competitive.
• You won’t be able to write on the blog, you won’t be able to upload photos, post comments, or rate content. Nor will the web be able to know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
• Sectorized advertising will not be able to be displayed, which will reduce advertising revenues on the website.
• All social networks use cookies, if you deactivate them you will not be able to use any social network.
Can cookies be deleted?
Yes. Not only delete, but also block, in a general or particular way 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 delete them.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Here’s how to access a specific cookie from the Chrome browser. Note: These steps may vary depending on the browser version:
• Go to Settings or Preferences using the File menu or by clicking on the personalization icon that appears at the top right.
• You will see different sections, click on the option Show advanced options.
• Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
• Select All cookies and site data.
• A list will appear with all the cookies ordered by domain.
• To make it easier for you to find cookies from a specific domain, enter the address partially or completely in the Search for cookies field.
• After performing this filter, one or more lines with the cookies from the requested website will appear on the screen. Now you just have 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 version of the browser):
• Go to Tools, Internet Options
• Click on Privacy.
• Move the slider to adjust the level of privacy you want.
To access the cookie settings of the Firefox browser follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
• Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
• Click on Privacy.
• Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
• You will now see the Accept cookies option, you can activate or deactivate it depending on your preferences.
To access the cookie settings of the Safari browser for OSX follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
• Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
• In this place you will see the option Block cookies so that you can adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.
To access the cookie settings of the Safari browser for iOS follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
• Go to Settings, then Safari.
• Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option Block cookies so that you can adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.
To access the browser’s cookie settings for Android devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
• Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
• Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the option Accept cookies so that you can check or uncheck the box.
To access the browser’s cookie settings for Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
• Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
• You can now activate or deactivate the Allow cookies box