What is a cookie?
A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. Its purpose is to allow the website to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people do not know it, 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, a trojan, a worm, spam or spyware, and it does not 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 store is of a technical nature: personal preferences, content personalisation, etc.
The web server does not associate the cookie with you as a person but with your web browser. In fact, if you usually browse with Internet Explorer and then try browsing the same website with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not realise you are the same person, because it is actually associating the data with the browser, not the person.
What types of cookies are there?
- Technical cookies: The most basic ones. Among other things, they make it possible to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous or a registered user is browsing — 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 use, language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: They display advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
First-party cookies are generated by the page 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 what disabling cookies can mean, 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 its content to your personal preferences, as is common in 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 shops: it will be impossible to make purchases online; they will have to be made by phone or by visiting the physical shop, if there is one.
- It will not be possible to personalise your geographic preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
- The website will not be able to carry out web analytics on visitors and traffic, which will make it harder for the site to be competitive.
- You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, or rate content. The website will also not be able to tell whether you are a human or an automated application publishing spam.
- Targeted advertising cannot be displayed, which will reduce 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 deleted, but also blocked, either in general or for a specific domain.
To delete the cookies of a website, go to your browser settings, where you can search for those associated with the domain in question and delete them.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Here is how to access a specific cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:
- Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customisation icon at the top right.
- You will see different sections; click Show advanced settings.
- Go to Privacy, Content settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list of all cookies sorted by domain will appear. To find the cookies of a specific domain more easily, enter part or all of the address in the Search cookies field.
- After applying this filter, one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on screen. Now you just have to select them and press X to delete them.
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 on Privacy.
- Move the slider to the privacy level you prefer.
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 on Privacy.
- Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
- You will now see the Accept cookies option, which you can enable or disable according to your preferences.
To access the cookie settings of Safari for OSX, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
- There you will see the Block cookies option, where you can adjust the type of blocking you want.
To access the cookie settings of Safari for iOS, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy & Security; you will see the Block cookies option, where you can adjust the type of blocking you want.
To access the cookie settings of the browser on Android devices, follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Open the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
- Go to Security and Privacy; you will see the Accept cookies option, which you can enable or disable.
To access the cookie settings of the browser on 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 checkbox.