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 for the website to be able to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people don’t know it, cookies have been used for 20 years, since the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.
What IS NOT a cookie?
It is not a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam, or 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 card or bank details, photographs, your ID number, or personal information, etc. The data they keep is technical in nature, such as personal preferences, content personalization, etc.
The web server does not associate you as a person, but rather your web browser. In fact, if you usually browse with Internet Explorer and 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 the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies are there?
- Technical cookies: These are the most basic and allow, among other things, the website to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, and when an anonymous or registered user is browsing—basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
- Analytics cookies: They collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, time of use, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: They show advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
First-party 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 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 content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online stores.
- You will not be able to access personal areas of the website, such as My Account, My Profile, or My Orders.
- Online stores: It will be impossible to make online purchases; you would have to do so by phone or by visiting the physical store if there is 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 traffic, making it difficult for the site to remain competitive.
- You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, or rate content. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application posting spam.
- Targeted advertising cannot 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. You can not only delete them but also block them, either generally or specifically for a particular domain.
To delete cookies from a website, you must go to your browser settings; there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to delete them.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Below we explain 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 settings option.
- Go to Privacy, Content settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list will appear with all cookies ordered 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 you just have to select it and click the X to delete it.
To access the cookie settings for 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 adjust the desired privacy level.
To access the cookie settings for 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.
- 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 (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- Here 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 (they 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 of the browser 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 to check or uncheck the box.
To access the cookie settings of the browser for Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings.
- Now you can check or uncheck the Allow cookies box.