What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The purpose of a cookie is to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to that page. Although many people do not know this, 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, 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 cards 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 with you as a person but with 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 realise that you are the same person because it is actually associating the browser, not the person.

What types of cookies exist?

Technical cookies: These are the most basic 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: These collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, time zone of use, language, etc.

Advertising cookies: These 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, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To help you understand the impact that disabling cookies can have, here are some examples:

• You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook or any other social network.
• The website will not be able to adapt the content 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, such as My Account, My Profile or My Orders.
  Online stores: You will not be able to make online purchases, they will have to be made by telephone or by visiting the physical store if it has one.
• It will not be possible to personalize your geographic preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
• The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic on the website, 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, publish comments, rate or score content. The website will also not be able to know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
• Targeted advertising will not be able to be displayed, 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 can they be deleted, but they can also be blocked, either in general or 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 to 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 using 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 will appear with all cookies sorted by domain.
• To make it easier for you to find the cookies from a specific domain, enter the address partially or completely in the Search cookies field.
• After performing this filter, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the cookies from the requested website. 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 browser version):

• Go to Tools, Internet Options
  Click on Privacy.
• Move the slider until you 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 browser version):

• Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.
• Click on Privacy.
• In History choose Use custom settings for history.
• You will now see the Accept Cookies option, you can enable or disable 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 browser version):

• Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
• Here you will see the Block Cookies option to set the type of blocking you want to do.

To access the cookie settings of the Safari browser 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 to set the type of blocking you want to do.

To access the cookie settings of the browser for Android devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

• Launch the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
• Go to Security & Privacy, you will see the Accept Cookies option to check or uncheck the box.

To access the browser cookie settings for Windows Phone devices follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

• Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
• You can now check or uncheck the Allow cookies box