What is a cookie?
A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The usefulness of the cookie is that the web is able to remember your visit when you return to browse that page. 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, trojan, worm, spam, spyware, or pop-up.
What information does a cookie store?
Cookies do not usually store sensitive information about you, such as credit card or bank details, photographs, your ID card 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 your web browser. In fact, if you usually browse with Internet Explorer and try to browse the same web with Firefox or Chrome you will see that the web does not realize that you are the same person because it is actually associating the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies are there?
- TechnicalCookies: These 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 user are browsing, basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic web.
- Analysiscookies: These collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use the most, products consulted, time of use, language, etc.
- AdvertisingCookies: They show advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc..
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
The own 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 that can have disabling cookies we show some examples:
- You may not share content from this website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
- The website will not be able to adapt the contents to your personal preferences, as is often the case with online shops.
- 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 to make online purchases, they will have to be made by phone or by 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 website to be competitive.
- You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, rate or rate content. The website will not be able to know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
- It will not be possible to display targeted advertising, 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 delete, but also block, either generally or for a specific domain.
To delete cookies from a website you must go to your browser settings and there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to its elimination.
Cookie settings for most popular browsers
Here's how to access a particular cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: These steps may vary depending on your browser version:
- Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.
- You will see different sections, click the option Show advanced options.
- Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- You will see a list of all cookies sorted by domain. To make it easier for you to find the cookies for a particular domain, enter part or all of the address in the Find cookies field.
- After making this filter will appear on the screen one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website. Now you just have to select it and press the X to proceed to its elimination.
To access your Internet Explorer browser's cookie settings follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options
- Click Privacy.
- Move the slider to set the privacy level you want.
To access the Firefox browser cookie settings follow these steps (may vary depending on 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 enable or disable it according to your preferences.
To access the cookie settings in the Safari browser for OSX follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- Here you will see the option Block cookies for you to set the type of blocking you want to do.
To access the cookie settings in the Safari browser for iOS follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option Block cookies for you to adjust the type of blocking you want to do.
To access the browser cookie settings for Android devices follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Launch the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
- Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the Accept cookies option to check or uncheck the box.
To access your browser cookie settings for Windows Phone devices follow these steps (may vary depending on browser version):
- Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
- You can now enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.
Cookie Advisor is a plugin for WordPress