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 the cookie is to enable the website to remember your visit when you return to browse that page again. Although many people are not aware of it, cookies have been used for more than 20 years, since the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.
What is not a cookie?
It is not a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam, 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 card or banking details, photographs, your ID number or personal information. The data they store is of a technical nature, personal preferences, content customisation, etc.
The web server does not associate you as a person, but rather associates your 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 recognise you as 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, distinguishing whether a human or an automated application is browsing, whether an anonymous or registered user is browsing, and performing basic tasks necessary for the operation of any dynamic website.
Analytics cookies: these collect information about the type of browsing you are carrying out, the sections you use most, products viewed, time of use, language, etc.
Advertising cookies: these display advertising based on your browsing habits, your country of origin, language, etc.
Personalisation cookies: these are cookies that allow the user to access the service with certain predefined general characteristics based on a series of criteria on the user’s device, such as language or the type of browser used to access the service.
What are first-party and third-party cookies?
First-party cookies are those generated by the website you are visiting, while third-party cookies are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
What happens if I disable cookies?
To help you understand the scope of disabling cookies, here are some examples:
You will not be able to share content from that website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
The website will not be able to adapt content to your personal preferences, as is often the case with online shops.
You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, such as My account, My profile or My orders.
Online shops: it will be impossible to make online purchases; these will have to be made by phone or by visiting the physical shop, if one exists.
It will not be possible to personalise your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
The website will not be able to carry out web analytics on visitors and traffic, which will make it more difficult for the website to remain competitive.
You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, or rate content. The website will also not be able to determine whether you are a human or an automated application publishing spam.
Targeted advertising will not be displayed, which will reduce the website’s advertising revenue.
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 generally or for a specific domain.
Below you can access the settings of the most common web browsers to accept, install or disable cookies:
Configure cookies in Google Chrome
Configure cookies in Microsoft Internet Explorer
Configure cookies in Mozilla Firefox
Configure cookies in Safari (Apple)