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 web is able to remember your visit when your return to surf this page. Many people do not know that cookies have been in use 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, nor a worm, nor spam nor spyware, nor a pop-up window opener.

What information is stored by a cookie?

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

The web server does not associate you as a person, but 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 you are actually associating the browser, not the person.

What kind of cookies are there?

• Cookies techniques: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, to know when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous user is navigating or a registered one, basic tasks for running any dynamic website.
• Analysis Cookies: These collect information on the type of navigation being done, the sections most used, consulted products, time period of use, language, etc.
• Advertising Cookies publicitarias: These display advertising based on your navigation, country of origin, language, etc.

What are own cookies and third-party ones?

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

What happens if I disable cookies?

To understand the consequences of disabling cookies, we shall give you some examples:

• You cannot share content of this site on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
• The web site will not adapt content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online stores.
• You cannot access the personal area of ​​the website, such as My Account, or My Profile or My Orders.
• Online Stores: It will be impossible to make purchases online, they will have to be made by telephone or by visiting the physical store, if you have one.
• It will not be possible to customize your geographical preferences, such as time zone, currency or language.
• The web site will not perform web analytics about visitors and web traffic, making it difficult for the website to be competitive.
• You cannot write on the blog, you cannot upload photos, post comments, evaluate or rate content. The website may not know whether you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
• No sectioned advertising may be shown, which will reduce the website’s advertising revenues.
• All social networks use cookies. If disabled, you cannot use any social network.

Can I delete cookies?

Yes. Not only can they be eliminated, but also blocked, generally or specifically for a specific domain.

To remove cookies from a website, you should go to your browser settings and there you can find the associated domain in question and proceed to eliminate them.

Cookie settings for the most popular browser

Here is how to access a particular cookie using the Chrome browser. Note: These steps may vary depending on the browser version:

1. Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the icon customization that appears at the top right.
2. You will see different sections, click the Show advanced settings option.
3. Go to Privacy, Content settings.
4. Select All cookies and site data.
5. A list of all cookies ordered by domain appears. To make it easier to find the cookies of a specific domain partially or fully enter the address in the search field cookies.
6. After using this filter, one or more lines with the requested Web cookies will appear on the screen. Now just select it and press the X to proceed with removal.

To access the configuration cookies on the Internet Explorer browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Tools, Internet Options.
2. Click on Privacy.
3. Move the slider to adjust the level of privacy you want.

To access the cookie configuration for the Firefox browser, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Options or Preferences by operating system.
2. Click on Privacy.
3. In History, choose Use custom settings for history.
4. Now you will see the Accept Cookies option, you can activate or deactivate as desired.

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

1. Vaya a Preferencias, luego Privacidad.
2. En este lugar verá la opción Bloquear cookies para que ajuste el tipo de bloqueo que desea realizar.

To access the cookie settings on the Safari browser for iOS, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
2. Go to Privacy and Security and you will see the Block cookies option in order for you to select the type of block you want to apply.

To access the browser’s cookie configuration for Android devices, follow these steps (may vary depending on the browser version):

1. Run the browser and press Menu, then the Settings button.
2. Go to security and privacy and you will see the Accept cookies option to select or deselect the box.

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

1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
2. Now you can enable or disable the Allow cookies.