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 a cookie is to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to that site. Although many people do not know this, cookies have been in use for 20 years, since 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 is of a technical nature, personal preferences, content customization, etc.
The web server does not associate you with a person, but with your web browser. In fact, if you normally browse with Internet Explorer and try to browse the same website with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not realise that you are the same person because it is actually associating the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies exist?
- Technical cookies: These are the most basic cookies and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user or a registered user is browsing, and basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
- Analysis cookies: These collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, time slot of use, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: These display advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
Own cookies are those generated by the page you are visiting and third-party cookies are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if I disable cookies?
To help you understand the impact that disabling cookies can have, here are some examples:
- You may not share content from this website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
- The website will not be able to adapt its content to your personal preferences, as is often the case with 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: You will not be able to make online purchases, they will have to be made by telephone or by visiting the physical store if it has one.
- It will not be possible to customize your geographic preferences such as time zone, 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, upload photos, post comments, rate or score content. The website will also not be able to tell whether 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 delete, but also block, generally or specifically 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 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 at the top right.
- You will see different sections, click the Show advanced options option.
- Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- Aparecerá un listado con todas las cookies ordenadas por dominio. Para que le sea más fácil encontrar las cookies de un determinado dominio introduzca parcial o totalmente la dirección en el campo Buscar cookies.
- After applying this filter, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the cookies of the requested website. Now you only have to select it and press the X to proceed to delete it.
To access the cookie settings of the Internet Explorer browser, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options
- Click on Privacy.
- Move the slider to set the privacy level 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 enable or disable it 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):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- Here you will see the Block cookies option so you can set the type of blocking you want to do.
Para acceder a la configuración de cookies del navegador Safari para iOS siga estos pasos (pueden variar en función de la versión del navegador):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the Block Cookies option for you to adjust the type of blocking you want to do.
To access the browser cookie settings for Android devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Launch the browser and press the Menu key , then Settings.
- Go to Security & Privacy, you will see the Accept Cookies option for you to check or uncheck the box.
To access the browser 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 check or uncheck the Allow non-mandatory cookies box.
