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 usefulness of the cookie is that the web is able to remember your visit when you return to browse this 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 IS NOT a cookie?
It is not a virus, nor a Trojan, nor a worm, nor spam, nor spyware, nor opens pop-up windows.
What information does a cookie store?
The cookies not often store sensitive information about you, such as credit card or bank account information, photographs, your ID or personal information, etc. The data they keep is of a technical nature, personal preferences, content personalization, etc.
The web server doesn’t relate you as a person, it associates 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 website 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: Technical cookies: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing and when an anonymous user or a registered user is browsing, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
Analysis cookies: Collect information about the type of navigation you are making, more frequently used sections, products consulted, slot for use, language, etc.
Advertising cookies: Display advertising based on your navigation, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are your 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 external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if I disable cookies?
To understand the scope of disabling cookies, we show you 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 the contents to your personal preferences, as usually happens 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 by phone or visiting the physical store if you have 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 web 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 web will also not be able to know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
- It will not be possible 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 network.
Can cookies be removed?
Yes. Not only delete, but also block, generally or particularly for a specific domain.
To delete cookies from a website, you must go to the settings of your browser and there you can search for the cookies associated with the domain in question and proceed to their removal.
Cookie settings for most popular browsers
Here’s how to access a particular cookie on your 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 at the top right.
- You will see different sections, click on the Show advanced options option.
- Go to Privacy, Content Settings
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list of all cookies sorted by domain will appear. To make it easier for you to find the cookies for a particular domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search for Cookies field.
- After making this filter, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the cookies of the requested website. Now, all you have to do is select it and press X to proceed to its removal.
To access the cookie settings of your Internet Explorer browser, follow these steps (they may vary depending on your browser version):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options
- Click on Privacy.
- Move the slider to the desired privacy level.
To access your Firefox browser’s cookie settings follow these steps (they may vary depending on your browser version):
- Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
- Click on Privacy.
- Under History choose Use a custom setting for history.
- You will now see the Accept cookies option, which you can enable or disable according to your preferences.
To access your browser’s Safari for OSX cookie settings follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- Here you will see the Block Cookies option to set the type of block you want to make.
To access your browser’s Safari for iOS cookie settings, follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Under Privacy and Security, you will see the Block Cookies option to set the type of block you want to make.
To access your browser’s cookie settings for Android devices follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
- Under Security and Privacy, you will see the Accept Cookies option to select or clear the check box.
To access cookie settings in the browser for Windows Phone devices follow these steps (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):
- Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, and choose Internet Options. Click the Privacy tab, then More, and following Settings
- You can now enable or disable the Enabling cookies checkbox.