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 allow the website to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people do not know this, 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, 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 number, personal information, etc. The data they store is technical in nature, personal preferences, content customization, and so on.
The web server does not associate you as a person, but rather with your web browser. In fact, if you usually 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 it is actually associating the visit with the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies exist?
- Technical cookies: These are the most basic and allow, among other things, knowing when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user or a 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 period of use, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: They display advertising based on your browsing, 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 impact that disabling cookies may have, 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 its content 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, My Profile, or My Orders.
- Online stores: It will be impossible for you to make online purchases; they will have to be made by phone or by visiting the physical store, if one is available.
- 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 website traffic, which will make it harder for the website to remain competitive.
- You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, rate or score content. The website also will not be able to know 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. They can not only be deleted, but also blocked, either generally or specifically for a particular domain.
To delete cookies from a website, you must go to your browser settings, where 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 through the File menu, or by clicking the customization icon that appears in the upper right corner.
- 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 sorted by domain. To make it easier to find the cookies for a specific domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search cookies field.
- After applying this filter, one or more lines with the cookies from the requested website will appear on screen. Now you only have to select it and press the X to delete it.
To access the cookie settings in 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 until you adjust the privacy level you want.
To access the cookie settings in 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, which you can enable or disable according to your preferences.
To access the cookie settings in the Safari for OSX browser, follow these steps; they may vary depending on the browser version:
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- There you will see the Block cookies option so you can adjust the type of blocking you want to apply.
To access the cookie settings in 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 so you can adjust the type of blocking you want to apply.
To access the cookie settings in the browser for Android devices, follow these steps; they may vary depending on the browser version:
- Open the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
- Go to Security & Privacy; you will see the Accept cookies option so you can enable or disable the box.
To access the cookie settings in the browser 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 enable or disable the Allow cookies box.