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 utility of the cookie is that the website is able to remember your visit when you return to browse that page. Although many people don’t know it, cookies have been used for over 20 years, since the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.
What is NOT a cookie?
It is not a virus, not a Trojan, not a worm, not spam, not spyware, and it does not 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, photos, your ID, or personal information, etc. The data they store is of a technical nature, 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 browsing the same website with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not recognize you as 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, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user and a registered user are browsing, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.
- Analysis cookies: They collect information on the type of navigation you are doing, the sections you use the most, products consulted, time slot of use, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: They show advertising based on your browsing, 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 scope 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 the content to your personal preferences, as is often the case 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: You will not be able to make online purchases, they will have to be done by phone or by visiting the physical store if there is one.
- It will not be possible to customize your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency, or language.
- The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic on the web, making it more difficult for the website 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 score content. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
- Targeted advertising cannot be displayed, which will reduce the advertising revenue of the website.
- 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 for a specific domain.
To delete cookies from a website, you must 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
Next, we will show you how to access a specific cookie from 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 the Show advanced options option.
- Go to Privacy, Content settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list with all the cookies ordered by domain will appear. To make it easier to find the cookies of 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 just have to select it and press the X to proceed with its deletion.
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 adjust 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.
- In History, choose Use custom settings for history.
- Now you will see the option Accept cookies, you can enable or disable it according to your preferences.
To access the cookie settings of 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 option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you wish to do.
To access the cookie settings of 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 option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you wish to do.
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 option Accept cookies to enable or disable the checkbox.
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
- You can now enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.
