What is a cookie?
A cookie is a text-only piece of information that represents no danger for the user’s privacy. A cookie is stored in your computer when you visit a website. Thanks to a cookie this website is able to remember your last visit when you access that site again. Even if it is no common knowledge among the internet users, cookies have been in use for over twenty years since the first web browsers appeared in the World Wide Web.
But a cookie is not…
…a virus, nor a backdoor Trojan horse, nor a computer worm, nor spam, nor spyware and it does not allow pop-ups.
What information does a cookie store?
Cookies do not store sensitive information such as credit card numbers, account information, personal pictures, your I.D or any other kind of personal information. The data stored in a cookie is technical information regarding personal preferences, content personalization, etc.
A web server treats your web browser as if it were an individual. For example, if you usually browse the web with Internet Explorer and then you navigate the internet with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, the web server does not recognize you as the same person because it recognizes the browser, not the human being.
What kind of cookies are there?
- Technical cookies: are the most basic of all and they are able to discern when it is a human being the one who is browsing the web or an automatic application, and also when the searcher is an anonymous user or a registered user. All this information is essential for the proper functioning of a dynamic website.
- Analytic cookies: they gather information about your habits when browsing the web; time of the day in which you usually make use of the internet, the items you search for, the most visited websites, your language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: they show advertisements according to your browsing habits, the country in which you are located, your language, etc.
What are First-Party and Third-Party cookies?
First-party cookies are the ones generated by the website that you are visiting, and third-party cookies are those generated by external providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if I disable a cookie?
These are some of the examples of what can happen if you disable the cookies.
- You will not be able to share contents of that website on Facebook, Twitter or any other given social network.
- The website will not be able to adapt its contents according to your personal preferences, as it happens when you shop online.
- You will not be able to access the personal area of that site, such as My account, or My profile¸or My orders.
- Online shops: you will not be able to buy online. Any purchase that you want to make will have to be through the telephone or the physical store.
- It will not be possible to personalize your geographical preferences like the time zone, your currency or language.
- The website will not be able to make any web analytics on the visitors and web traffic, which would make it more difficult for the site to be competitive.
- You will not be able to write on a blog, upload pictures, publish comments, grade contents, etc. The website will not be able either to discern whether you are a human being or an automatic application that publishes spam.
- No personalized advertising will be shown, which will lead to a drop-off in the income 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, they can. And not only deleted, but also blocked in a more general way or for a specific domain.
Cookie configuration for the best well-known browsers.
And now, we are going to tell you how to access to a specific cookie in the Chrome browser. Note: these steps might vary according to the browser’s version:
- Click on the Chrome menu icon on the browser toolbar that is at the top of the browser, on the right side.
- You will see different sections. Click on Show advanced settings.
- Go to Privacy, Content settings.
- Select All cookies and site data.
- A list of cookies organized according to the domain will pop up. Introduce part or all the address in the field Search cookies so you can easily find the cookies of a specific domain.
- After applying this filter, the cookies from the chosen web will appear on your screen. Now you just have to select the one(s) you want to delete and click X to delete it.
To access the cookie settings in Internet Explorer, follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Go to tools, Internet options.
- Click on the Privacy Tab.
- Adjust the slider to set the privacy level as you wish.
To access the cookies settings in the Firefox browser, follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Under the Firefox button, select Options or Preferences, depending on your OS.
- Click on the Privacy tab.
- In History, choose Personal settings for the browser’s history.
- 4. Now you will see the option Accept cookies. You can enable or disable it according to your preferences.
To access the cookies settings in Apple Safari for OSX, follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Go to Settings, then Privacy.
- Go to Privacy and Security. There, you will see Block cookies where you can choose the type of blocking you want for the cookies.
To access the cookies settings in Apple Safari for iOS, follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Go to Settings, then Safari.
- Go to Privacy and Security. There, you will see Block cookies where you can choose the type of blocking you want for the cookies.
To access the cookies setting in Android devices follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Open your browser and the click on Menu, Settings.
- Go to Security and Privacy. There you will the option Accept cookies which you can tick or not.
To access the cookies setting in Windows Phone devices follow these steps (they might vary according to the version of the browser):
- Open Internet Explorer, then click on More, and then in Settings.
- Now you can enable or disable the box Allow cookies.