What is a cookie?

A cookie is an harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any webpage. The purpose of the cookie is to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to browse that page. Although many people are unaware, 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, nor a trojan, nor a worm, nor spam, nor spyware, nor pop-up windows.

What information does a cookie store?

Cookies usually do not store sensitive information about you, such as credit cards or banking data, photographs, your ID or personal information, etc. The data they store are technical in nature, personal preferences, content customization, etc.

The web server does not associate you as a person but with 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 it is you because it is actually associating with the browser, not the person.

What types of cookies exist?

  • 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 or registered user is browsing, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic website.

  • Analysis cookies: Collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, time slots of use, language, etc.

  • Advertising cookies: Show advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.

What are own cookies and third-party cookies?

Own cookies are generated by the website 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 of disabling cookies, here are some examples:

  • You will not be able to share content from this 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 your personal area on that website, such as Your account, or Your profile, or Your orders.
  • Online stores: It will be impossible to make online purchases; transactions will have to be by phone or by visiting the physical store if available.
  • You will not be able 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, which will make it harder for the website to be competitive.
  • You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, rate or score content. The website also will not be able to determine if you are a human or an automated application publishing spam.
  • You will be able to display targeted advertising, which will increase 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. Not only delete, but also block, either generally or specifically for a particular domain. To delete cookies from a website, you need to go to your browser settings and there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to delete them.

Cookies settings for the most popular browsers

Below we indicate how to access a specific cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:

  1. Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon that appears at the top right.
  2. You will see different sections; click on Show advanced options.
  3. Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
  4. Select All cookies and site data.
  5. A list will appear with all cookies sorted by domain. To make it easier to find the cookies of a specific domain, partially or fully enter the address in the Search cookies field.
  6. After applying this filter, one or more lines with the website’s cookies will appear on the screen. Now you just need to select it and click the X to delete it.

To access cookie settings in the Internet Explorer browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. Move and slide to adjust the desired privacy level.

To access cookie settings in the Firefox browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. In History, choose Use custom settings for history.
  4. Now you will see the Accept cookies option; you can enable or disable it according to your preferences.

To access cookie settings in the Safari for OSX browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  2. Here you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.

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

  1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security; you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.

To access the cookies settings of the browser for Android devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Open the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
  2. Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the Accept cookies option to enable or disable the checkbox.

To access the cookies settings of the browser for Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
  2. Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.