What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that is stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The utility of the cookie is that the site will be able to remember your visit when you return to navigate that page. Although many people do not know it, cookies have been used for 20 years, when the first browsers for the World Wide Web appeared.

What is not a cookie?

It’s not a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam, spyware, or pop-up

What information does a cookie store?

Cookies do not usually store sensitive information about you, such as credit card or bank details, photographs, your ID or personal information, etc. The data they store are of a technical nature, personal preferences, personalisation of contents, etc. The web server does not associate you as a person but with your web browser. In fact, if you surf regularly with Internet Explorer and try surfing the same website with Firefox or Chrome you will see that the website 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?

  • Technical Cookies: These are the most elementary 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: They collect information about the type of navigation you are doing, the sections you use most, products consulted, time of use, language, etc.Analysis cookies: They collect information about the type of navigation you are doing, the sections you use most, products consulted, time of use, language, etc.
  • Advertising cookies: They show advertising according to your navigation, your country of origin, language, etc.

What are own and third-party cookies?

Own 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, Twitter, Google, etc.

What happens if I turn off the cookies?

To help you understand the extent to which you can disable 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 the content to your personal preferences, as is often the case in online shops.
  • You will not be able to access the personal area of that site, such as My Account, or My Profile or My Orders.
  • Online stores: You will be unable to make purchases online, they will have to be telephone or visiting the physical store if you have it.
  • It will not be possible to customize your geographic preferences such as time zone, currency, or language.
  • The website will not be able to perform web analytics on visitors and traffic to the website, which will make it difficult for the website to be competitive.
  • You will not be able to write in the blog, you will not be able to upload photos, publish comments, rate or rate contents. The website will also not be able to tell if you are a human or an automated application that publishes spam.
  • It will not be possible to show sectorized advertising, which will reduce the advertising income of the web.
  • All social networks use cookies, if you disable them you will not be able to use any social networks.

Can I delete the cookies?

Yes. Not only delete, but also block, in a general or particular way for a specific domain. To delete cookies from a website you must go to your browser settings and there you can search for the ones associated with the domain in question and proceed to delete them.

Cookie settings for the most popular browsers

Here’s how to access a particular Chrome browser cookie. Note: These steps may vary depending on your browser version:

  1. Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu or by clicking the customization icon at the top right.
  2. You will see different sections, click on the option Show advanced options.
  3. Go to Privacy, Content Settings.
  4. Select All Cookies and Site Data.
  5. A list of all cookies will be displayed, sorted by domain. To make it easier for you to find the cookies for a given domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search for Cookies field.
  6. After performing this filter, one or more lines with the cookies of the requested website will appear on the screen. Now just select it and press X to proceed with its removal.

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

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


To access the Firefox browser’s cookie settings follow these steps (they may vary depending on the browser version):

  1. Go to Options or Preferences according to your operating system.
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. Use a custom history setting.
  4. Now you will see the option Accept cookies, you can activate or deactivate it according to your preferences.

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

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


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

  1. Go to Preferences, then Safari.
  2. Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option Block Cookies to adjust the type of blocking you want to do.

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

  1. Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
  2. Go to Security and Privacy, you’ll see the Accept cookies option to select or clear the check box.

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

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings
  2. You can now check or uncheck the Allow Cookies box.

This post is also available in: Spanish