More information about cookies
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any web page. The purpose of a cookie is to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to browse that page. Although many people don’t know it, cookies have been in use for 20 years, since the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.
What is a cookie NOT?
It is not a virus, nor a Trojan horse, nor a worm, nor spam, nor spyware, nor does it open pop-up windows.
What information does a cookie store?
Cookies typically do not store sensitive information about you, such as credit card or bank details, photographs, your ID number, or personal information, etc. The data they save is technical in nature, personal preferences, content personalization, etc.
The web server does not associate you as a person but rather with your web browser. In fact, if you regularly browse with Internet Explorer and then try to browse the same website with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not realize you are the same person because it is actually associating with the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies exist?
- Technical cookies: These 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, and perform 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 most, products viewed, time of day, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: They display advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
First-party cookies are generated by the page you are visiting, and third-party cookies are generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if I disable cookies?
To help you understand the implications of disabling cookies, here are some 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 content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online stores.
- You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, such as My Account, My Profile, or My Orders.
- Online stores: You will be unable to make purchases online; they will have to be made by phone or by visiting the physical store if available.
- It will not be possible to personalize your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency, or language.
- The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic, making it difficult for the website to be competitive.
- You will not be able to post on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, rate, or score content. The website will also not know if you are a human or an automated application posting spam.
- Targeted advertising will not be displayed, which will reduce the website’s advertising revenue.
- All social networks use cookies; if you disable them, you will not be able to use any social network.
Can cookies be deleted?
Yes. Not only deleted, but also blocked, either generally or specifically for a particular domain.
To delete cookies from a website, you need to go to your browser’s settings and there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed with their deletion.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Here’s how to access a specific cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:
- Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon that appears in the upper right corner.
- You will see different sections; click on the Show advanced settings option.
- Go to Privacy, Content settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list will appear with all cookies sorted by domain. To make it easier to find cookies for a specific domain, enter the address partially or fully in the Search cookies field.
- After applying this filter, one or more lines with the cookies for the requested website will appear on the screen. Now, simply select it and click the X to proceed with its deletion.
To access the cookie settings for the Internet Explorer browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options
- Click on Privacy.
- Move the slider to adjust the desired privacy level.
To access the cookie settings for the Firefox browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
- Click on Privacy.
- Under History, select Use custom settings for history.
- Now you will see the Accept cookies option; you can enable or disable it according to your preferences.
To access the cookie settings for the Safari for OSX browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- In this section, you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the type of blocking you wish to perform.
To access the cookie settings for the Safari for iOS browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy & Security; you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the type of blocking you wish to perform.
To access the cookie settings for browsers on Android devices, follow these steps (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 Accept cookies option to enable or disable the checkbox.
To access the cookie settings for browsers on Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):
- Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
- Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.
