A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any web page. 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 don’t know this, 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 bank details, photographs, 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 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 that you are 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, knowing when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user and a registered one are browsing, 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 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?
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 extent to which you can disable 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, My Profile, or My Orders.
- Online stores: It will be impossible for you to make purchases online, they will have to be telephone or by visiting the physical store if it has one.
- 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 about visitors and traffic on the web, which will make it difficult for the web 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 score content. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
- Sectorized advertising cannot be shown, 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, in a general or particular way for a specific domain. To delete the cookies of a website you must go to the configuration of your browser and there you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to its elimination.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Next, we indicate how to access a specific cookie from the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the version of the browser:
- Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon that appears at the top right.
- 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 for you to find the cookies of a specific domain, enter partially or completely the address in the Search cookies field.
- After performing this filter, one or several lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on the screen. Now you just have to select it and press the X to proceed with its elimination.
To access the cookie settings of the Internet Explorer browser follow these steps (they may vary depending on the version of the browser):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options
- Click on 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 version of the browser):
- 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 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 version of the browser):
- 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 version of the browser):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.
To access the cookie settings of the browser for Android devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the version of the browser):
- Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
- Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the option Accept cookies to activate or deactivate the box.
To access the cookie settings of the browser for Windows Phone devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the version of the browser):
- Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
- Now you can activate or deactivate the box Allow cookies.
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