More information about cookies.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file that stores itself on your browser whenever you visit a web page. The usefulness of a cookie is that the website will remember your visit when you go back to it. Although many people don’t know, cookies have been used for 20 years, when the first World Wide Web browsers appeared.

What ISN’T a cookie?

It isn’t a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam, spyware, nor does it open pop-ups.

What information does a cookie store?

Cookies do not normally store sensitive information about you such as credit cards or bank details, your I.D. or personal information, etc. The data saved are of technical nature, personal preferences, customising content, etc.

The web server does not associate with you as a person, rather to your web browser. In fact, if you usually use Internet Explorer and try to browse with Firefox or Chrome, you’ll see that the web doesn’t realise that you’re the same person, because in reality it associates with the browser, not the person.

What type of cookies are there?

  • Technical cookies: These are the most basic and allow you to know, among other things, whether a real person or an automated application is browsing, whether an anonymous user is browsing or a registered one, and basic tasks for the operation of any dynamic web page.

  • Analytic cookies: These collect information about the type of navigation being down, the most-used sections, products consulted, time of use, language, etc.

  • Advertising cookies: These show advertisements according to their navigation, country of origin, language, etc.

What are first and third party cookies?

First party cookies are those generated by the website you are visiting, and third party cookies are those generated by services or external suppliers such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

What happens if I disable cookies?

To understand the significance that disabling cookies could have, we will show you some examples:

  • You won’t be able to share the content of the website on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.

  • The web site will not be able to adapt the content to your personal preferences, as usually happens in online stores.

  • You won’t be able to access the Personal Area of the website, like for example My Account, or My Profile or My Orders.

  • You will not be able to make purchases online. You would have to do it over the telephone or by visiting the actual store if available.

  • It won’t be possible to customise your geographic preferences like time zone, currency or language.

  • The website will not be able to perform web analytics on its visitors and traffic, making it difficult for the web to be competitive.

  • You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, post comments, assess or rate content. The website also won’t know if you are a real person or an automated application that publishes spam.

  • You will not be able to display regional advertising, reducing 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 delete, but also block in general or to a specific domain. To delete cookies from a website you must go to your browser settings and there you can find the cookies associated with the domain in question and proceed to delete them.

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

  1. Go to Settings or Preferences by using the File menu or by clicking the customisation icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

  2. You will see different sections, click on Show advanced options.

  3. Go to Privacy, Content Settings.

  4. Select All cookies and site data.

  5. A list will appear with all cookies ordered by domain. To make it easier for you find the cookies from a given domain, enter part or all of the URL in the field Find Cookies.

  6. After filtering, one or more lines with cookies from the requested site will appear. Now you just have to select it and press X to delete them.

To access the cookie settings on Internet Explorer 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 desired level of privacy.

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

  1. Go to Options or Preferences depending on your operating system.

  2. Click on Privacy.

  3. In History choose Use custom settings for history.

  4. Now you will see the option to Accept cookies, you can enable or disable them according to your preferences.

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

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.

  2. Here you will see the option to Block cookies to adjust the desired block type.

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

  1. Go to Setting, then Safari.

  2. Go to Privacy and Security, you will see the option to Block Cookies to adjust the desired block type.

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

  1. Run the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.

  2. Go to Security and Privacy, you will see the option to Accept Cookies to check or uncheck the box.

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

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More, then Settings

  2. Now you can enable or disable the box Allow Cookies.