What is a cookie?
A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you are visiting virtually any web page. The usefulness of the cookie is the ability of the web to remember that you have already visited the website when you are going back to this website. Even if many people do not know it, cookies have been used for 20 years, when the first browsers appeared for the World Wide Web.
What is not a cookie?
A cookie is not a virus, a Trojan horse, a spam, or a spyware, and does not open pop-ups.
What information is stored by a cookie?
In general, a cookie does not store sensitive information about you, like credit card number, bank details, pictures, identity or other personal information, etc. The data stored are technical, like personal preferences, customization of content, etc.
The web server does not associate them with you as a person but with your web browser. So, if you usually browse with Internet Explorer and try to navigate into the same web but with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the web does not understand that you are the same person because in reality, it is associated with the browser and not the person.
What kinds of cookies exist?
- Technical cookies: these are the most basic, they allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is navigating, if it is an anonymous or registered user who navigates, as well as other basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic web.
- Analytics cookies: they collect information about the kind of browsing done, the sections you use the most, the products consulted, the time slot of use, the language, etc.
- Advertising cookies: they show ads according to your browsing, country of origin, language, etc.
What are your own cookies and those created by third parties?
Your own cookies are those generated by the page you are visiting et those developed by third parties like services or external providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if we deactivate cookies?
For you to understand the extent of deactivation cookies, we will give you some examples:
- You will not be able to share web content on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
- The website will not be able to adapt its contents to your personal preferences, such as on online shop websites.
- You will not be able to access the personal area of the website, for example: my account, my profile, or my orders
- Online shops: you will not be able to buy online; you will have to buy by phone or on site if there are physical shops.
- It will not be possible to customize your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency, or language.
- The website will not be able to make web analyzes on the visitors or the traffic of the site, which will put in difficulty the competitiveness of the web site.
- You will not be able to post comments on blogs, post photos, post comments, add value, or rate content. The web will not know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
- You will not be able to view sectored ads, 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 we eliminate cookies?
Yes. Not only eliminate them, but also block them, generally or specifically for a specific area.
To remove cookies from a website, you must go to the configuration of your browser to search for cookies associated with the domain in question and proceed to their removal.
Configuring cookies for the most popular browsers
Below we will tell you how to access a cookie with the Chrome browser: (Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version)
- Go to Settings or Preferences in the File menu or by clicking on the personalization icon that appears at the top right.
- You will see different sections, click on Show advanced options.
- Go to Privacy, Content Configuration.
- Select All Cookies and Web site Data.
- It will appear a list with all the cookies classified by domain. To make it easier to find cookies associated with a domain, enter some or all of the web address in the “Search for cookies” field.
- Once this filter is applied, one or more lines will appear on a screen with the cookies of the website in question. You just have to select it and press X to eliminate them.
To access the cookie configuration of the Internet Explorer browser, follow the steps below (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Tools, Internet Options.
- Click on confidentiality.
- Move the cursor to the level of privacy you want.
To access the cookie configuration of the Firefox browser, follow the steps below (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Options or Preferences according to your system of operations.
- Click on confidentiality.
- In « History », choose « Use custom configuration for history ».
- You will see the option Accept cookies, you can activate or deactivate it according to your preferences.
To access the cookie configuration of the Safari for OSX browser, follow the steps bellow (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Preferences and then Privacy.
- Here, you will see the Block Cookies Option to adjust the type of blockage you want to make.
To access the cookie configuration of the Safari pour iOS browser, follow the steps bellow (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Go to Modifications then Safari.
- Here, you will see the Block Cookies Option to adjust the type of blockage you want to make.
To access the cookie configuration of the Safari pour Android browser, follow the steps bellow (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Launch the browser, press the Menu key and select Modifications.
- Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the option Accept cookies and you can enable or disable the box.
To access the cookie configuration of the Windows Phone browser, follow the steps bellow (they may vary depending on the browser version):
- Open Internet Explorer, then More, and then Configuration.
- Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies box.