What is a cookie?
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 to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to 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, not a trojan, not a worm, not spam, not spyware, not 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 save are of a technical nature, personal preferences, personalization of content, etc.
The web server does not associate you as a person other than your web browser. In fact, if you usually surf with Internet Explorer and try to surf 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 exist?
Technical cookies: They 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 website.
Analysis cookies: They collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use the most, products consulted, time slot of use, language, etc.
Advertising cookies: They show advertising based on your navigation, your country of origin, language, etc.
What are own and third-party cookies?
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?
So that you understand the scope that disabling cookies can have, we show you some examples:
You may not share content from that 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 stores.
You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, for example My Account, or My Profile or My Orders.
Online stores: It will be impossible to make purchases online, they will have to be by phone or by visiting the physical store if it has 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, you will not be able to upload photos, post comments, rate or rate content. The web will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application posting spam.
You will not be able to display segmented advertising, which will reduce the advertising revenue of the web.
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, generally or specifically 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 with their deletion.
Cookie settings for the most popular browsers
Google Chrome:
Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by tapping the Personalization icon at the top right.
You will see different sections, click on Show advanced options option.
Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
Select All cookies and site data.
A list will appear with all the cookies sorted by domain. To make it easier for you to find the cookies of a certain domain, enter the address in part or in full in the Search cookies field.
After performing this filter, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the cookies of the requested website. Now you just have to select it and press X to proceed with its removal.
Internet Explorer:
Go to Tools, Internet Options.
Click on Privacy.
Move the slider to adjust the level of privacy you want.
Firefox:
Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
Click on Privacy.
Under History, choose Use a custom setting for history.
You will now see the Accept Cookies option, you can enable or disable it according to your preferences.
Safari for OSX:
Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
In this place you will see the option Block cookies so that you can adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.
Safari for iOS:
Go to Settings, then Safari.
Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the Block cookies option so you can adjust the type of blocking you want to perform.
Browser for Android devices:
Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the Accept Cookies option to turn it on or off.
Browser for Windows Phone devices:
Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings.
You can now turn “Allow cookies” on or off.