What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The usefulness of a cookie is that the website is able to remember your visit when you return to this page. Many people do not know that cookies have been around for 20 years, when the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.

What is NOT a cookie?

It is not a virus or a Trojan, it is not a worm, spam or spyware, and it does not open pop-up windows.

What information is in a cookie?

Cookies do not usually store sensitive information about you, such as credit cards or bank details, photographs, your ID or personal information. The stored data is technical, about your personal preferences and content personalization.

The web server will not associate you as a person but instead your web browser. In fact, if you regularly browse with Internet Explorer and try to browse the same web with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the web does not realize that you are the same person because it is associated to the browser, not the person.

What types of cookies are there?

Technical cookies: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is using the browser, when an anonymous user or a registered user is using the browser and, basic tasks for running any dynamic web.

Analytics cookies: They collect information on the type of navigation, the most used sections, consulted products, time slot of use or language.

Profiling cookies: They display advertisements based on your navigation, your country of origin or language.

What are first party cookies and third party cookies?

First party cookies are generated by the page you are browsing and third party cookies are generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter or Google.

What happens if I disable cookies?

Because we want you to understand what would happen if you disable cookies, we will show some examples:

You will not be able to share this site on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.

The site will not be able adapt content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online stores.

You will not be able to access the personal area of this website, such as My Account, My Profile or My orders.

Online Stores: It will be impossible to make purchases online, you will have to call or visit the physical store, if there is one.

It will not be possible to customize your geographic preferences as the time zone, currency or language.

The website will not perform web analytics about visitors and web traffic, which will hinder the competitiveness of the web.

You will not be able to write in the blog, upload photos, post comments, evaluate or rate content. The website will not be able to know whether you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.

It will not be possible to show advertisements, which will reduce the advertising revenue on the web.

All social networks use cookies, if you disable them you will not be able to use any social network.

Can you delete cookies?

Yes, you can. Not only eliminate them, but also block a specific domain.

To delete cookies from a website you should go to your browser settings, there you can find the associated domain and proceed to its elimination.

Cookie settings for different browsers

Here’s how to access a specific cookie in Chrome:

Note: These steps may vary depending on the version of the browser.

Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon that appears at the top right. You will see different sections, click Show advanced settings.

In the Privacy section, click Content Settings.

Under Cookies, click All cookies and site data.

This displays a list of all cookies ordered by domain. Enter a domain address in the Search field to find the cookies you want to delete.

Then, one or more lines will appear on the screen with the requested cookies. Now simply select the cookies and press X to delete them.

To access the cookies settings in Internet Explorer, follow these steps: (they may vary depending on the version of the browser).

Go to Tools, Internet Options, click Privacy and move the slider to adjust the level privacy you want.

To access the cookies settings in Firefox, follow these steps: (they may vary depending on the version of the browser).

Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.

Click Privacy.

In History select Use custom settings for history.

You will now see the option to accept cookies, you can turn it on or off according to your preferences.

To access the cookies settings in Safari for OSX, follow these steps: (they may vary depending on the version of the browser).

Go to Preferences, then click Privacy.

You will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of block you want to perform.

To access the cookies settings in Safari for iOS, follow these steps: (they may vary depending on the version of the browser).

Go to Settings, then Safari.

Go to Privacy & Security, you will see the option Block cookies to adjust the type of block you want to perform.

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

Run the browser and press Menu, then Settings.

Go to Security and privacy, you will see the option to accept cookies or clear them.

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

Open Internet Explorer, press More, click on Settings

Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.