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 cookies consists of making the website remember your visit when you browse it a second time. Although many people don't know it, cookies have been used for over 20 years, when the first World Wide Web browsers appeared.

What IS NOT a cookie?

It is not a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam or spyware, nor opens 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 are of a technical nature, personal preferences, content customization, etc.

The web server identifies your web browser, instead of you as a person. In fact, if you normally use Internet Explorer and try to browse the same website using Firefox or Chrome you will see that the website does not realize you are the same person, because it is actually associating the browser, not the person.

What types of cookies are there?

• Technical cookies: They are the most basic and, among other things, know whether a Human or an automated application is navigating, or whether the user is anonymous or registered. Those are fundamental tasks for any dynamic website.
• Analysis cookies: They gather information about the type of navigation, frequently visited sections, products, time zone, language, etc.
• Advertising cookies: They show advertising depending on your navigation, country of origin, language, etc.

What are proprietary and third-party cookies?

Own cookies are those generated by the web page visited and third-party cookies are those generated by external services or providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To understand the scope of disabled cookies, here are some examples:

• You will not be able to share the contents of this website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
• The website will not be able to adapt the contents to your personal preferences, as usually happens in online stores.
• You will not be able to access the personal area of this website, such as for example My account or My profile or My orders.
• Online stores: You will not be able to shop online, but rather by phone or visiting the physical store if it exists.
• You will not be able to customize your geographical preferences such as time zone, currency or language.
• The website will not be able to make web analyses of visitors and traffic on the web, which will reduce the website’s competitiveness.
• You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, assess or rate contents. The web will not be able to know if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
• You will not be able to show sectorized advertising, which will reduce the website's advertising revenues.
• 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 deleted, but also generally or specifically blocked for a particular domain.

In order to delete a website's cookies, you must go to your browser settings, where you can look for those associated with the domain in question and delete them.

Configuration of cookies for the most popular browsers

Follow the steps below to find a certain cookies in Chrome. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:

1. Go to Setting or Preferences on the File menu or by clicking on the customization icon that appears at the top right.
2. You will see different sections; click Show advanced options.
3. Go to Privacy, Content settings.
4. Select All cookies and site data.
5. A list will appear with all the cookies ordered by domain. To make it easier for you to find the cookies of a certain domain, enter the partial or complete address in the Find cookies field.
6. After performing this filter, the screen will show one or several lines with the cookies of the requested website. Now you just have to select it and click X to delete it.

Follow the steps below to go to cookie setup in Internet Explorer (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
2. Click Privacy.
3. Move the slide bar to the desired privacy level.

Follow the steps below to go to cookie setup in Firefox (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Options or Preferences, depending on your operating system.
2. Click Privacy.
3. In History, select Use personalized settings for history.
4. Now you will see the Accept cookies option. You can enable or disable it depending on your preferences.

Follow the steps below to go to cookie setup in Safari for OSX (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
2. Here you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the desired block type.

Follow the steps below to go to cookie setup in Safari for iOS (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
2. Go to Privacy and Security. You will see the Block cookies option to adjust the desired block type.

Follow the steps below to go to cookies setup in Android (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Run the browser and click the Menu key, then Settings.
2. Go to Security and Privacy. You will see the Accept cookies option to check or uncheck the box.

Follow the steps below to go to cookies setup in Windows Phone (these steps may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Setup.
2. Now you can enable the check or uncheck the Allow cookies box.

Cookie Advice is a plug-in for WordPress created by Carlos Doral (webartesanal.com)