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 the cookie is for the website to be able to remember your visit when you return to browse that page. Although many people are unaware, cookies have been in use for 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 does it open pop-up windows.

What information does a cookie store?

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

The web server does not associate you as a person but rather with your web browser. In fact, if you normally browse with Internet Explorer and try to browse the same website using Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not realize you are the same person, because it is actually associating 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 a registered user is browsing, and 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 of usage, 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 impact of disabling cookies, here are some examples:

  • You won’t be able to share content from that website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
  • The website will not be able to tailor content to your personal preferences, as typically happens with online stores.
  • You won’t 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 purchases online, you’ll have to do them by phone or in person if the store has a physical location.
  • You won’t be able to customize your geographic preferences such as time zone, currency, or language.
  • The website won’t be able to perform web analytics about visitors and web traffic, making it harder for the site to be competitive.
  • You won’t be able to post on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, rate or review content. The site also won’t be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that posts spam.
  • Targeted advertising cannot be displayed, which will reduce the site’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 deleted, but also blocked, either in general or for a specific domain.

To delete cookies from a website you must go to your browser settings and there you can search for the cookies associated with the domain in question and proceed with their deletion.

Here’s how to access a specific cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the version of the browser:

  1. Go to Settings or Preferences through the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.
  2. You will see different sections, click on Show advanced options.
  3. Go to Privacy, then 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, enter all or part of the address in the Search cookies field.
  6. After applying this filter, one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on screen. Now just select it and press the X to delete it.

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

  1. Go to Tools, then Internet Options.
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. Move the slider to adjust the level of privacy you want.

To access cookie settings in Firefox, follow these steps (may vary by 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 option Accept cookies, which you can enable or disable according to your preferences.

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

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  2. There you will see the option Block cookies to set the type of blocking you want to apply.

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

  1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security, where you will see the option Block cookies to set the type of blocking you want to apply.

To access cookie settings on Android devices, follow these steps (may vary by browser version):

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

To access cookie settings on Windows Phone devices, follow these steps (may vary by browser version):

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings.
  2. Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies box.
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Cristina Ortega Romero
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