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 website is able to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people do not 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 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 save are of a technical nature, personal preferences, personalization of contents, etc.

The web server does not associate you as a person but your web browser. In fact, if you regularly browse with Internet Explorer and try browsing the same web with Firefox or Chrome you will see that the web 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: They are the most elementary and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user and a registered one browses, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic web.

• Analysis cookies: They collect information about 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, 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 those of third parties are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To understand the scope of disabling cookies, here are some examples:

• You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook, or any other social network.
• The website will not be able to adapt the contents to your personal preferences, as is usually 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: It will be impossible for you to make purchases online, they will have to be by phone or visiting the physical store if you have it.
• It will not be possible to customize your geographical preferences such as time slot, currency or language.
• The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic on the web, which will make it 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, publish comments, rate or rate content. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
• It will not be possible to show sectorized advertising, which will reduce the advertising revenue of the web.
• All social networks use cookies, if you deactivate them you will not be able to use any social network.

Can cookies be deleted?

Yes. Not only delete, but also block, in a general or particular way 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 those associated with the domain in question and proceed to their deletion.

Cookie settings for the most polluted browsers

Here’s how to access a particular Chrome browser cookie. Note: These steps may vary depending on your browser version:

• Go to Settings or Preferences using the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.
• You will see different sections, click on the option Show advanced options.
• 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 cookies from a certain domain, enter partially or totally the address in the Search for cookies field.
• After performing this filter, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the cookies of the requested website. 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 Privacy.
• Move the slider to adjust the level of privacy 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 Privacy.
• Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
• Now you will see the option Accept cookies, you can activate or deactivate 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.

• In this place you will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.

To access the cookie settings of the Safari browser for iOS follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

• 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 perform.

To access the browser’s cookie settings for Android devices  follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

• Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
• Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the accept cookies option for you to check or clear the check box.

To access the browser’s 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 enable or disable the Allow cookies check box