Further info about cookies

What’s a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file which gets stores in your browser when you browse almost every site. cookies are used so the site can remember your visit when you come back. Even though a lot of people is unaware, cookies have been in use for more than 20 years, when firsts World Wide Web browsers appeared.

What is NOT a cookie?

IT’s not a virus, trojan worm, spam, spyware, it does not open pop-ups.

What is stored in a cookie?

cookies usually don’t store sensitive information about you, such as credit card number, bank account information, SS number, photos, … They store technical data, personal preferences, content customization, …
The Webserver doesn’t associate you (as in person) but your web browser. If you usually browse with Chrome and you test to change browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, …) you can see that the web does not remember your choices, even though you are the same person using a different browser.

Which types of cookies are there?

  • Technical Cookies: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, to detect when it’s a human browsing or a bot, when a registered user is browsing or when he’s anonymous. Those are basic tasks for a dynamic web.
  • Analytical cookies: They collect information about the browsing done, most used sections, language, timeframe, products consulted, …
  • Advertising cookies: They show adds based on your browsing, country of residence, language, …

What are own or third party cookies?

Own cookies are the ones generated by the site you are visiting. Third party cookies are generated by external services or providers, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, …

What will happen if I disable cookies?

To better understand the extent of disabling cookies, here are some examples:

  • You won’t be able to (directly) share this site contents on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network.
  • The site won’t be able to adapt content to you personal preferences. This is more common on online shops.
  • You won’t be able to access to your personal space on this site, such as My profile.
  • You won’t be able to customize your preferences regarding (but not limited to) timezone, geographic preferences, currency, language, …
  • The site won’t be able to perform analytics regarding visits, times, traffic, … making me have a harder time providing nice content (As in, if I know that most people visit the site 10am – 11am on Mondays, I can treat this as a kind of deadline and do my best to publish new content before it)
  • You won’t be able to comment. The site won’t be able to know if you are human or a bot that publishes spam.
  • The site won’t be able to provide targeted ads.
  • Every social network uses cookies, if you disable them, you won’t be able to use them.

Can I delete cookies?

Yes, definitely. Not only delete them, you can also block them in a general way (for every site) or for a specific site.

To delete cookies for a site, you must open the browser configuration and then you can find and delete cookies related to a specific domain.

Cookie configuration for most common browsers

Here’s how you get an specific cookie in Chrome. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Go to Configuration / Preferences. You can access from File menu or the icon on the top right corner.
  2. Click on Show advanced options.
  3. Go to Privacy, Content configuration.
  4. Pick All cookies and site data.
  5. It’ll now show a list of all cookies ordered by domain. You can find a specific domain easily by using the Search cookie field.
  6. Now you should have cookies from this site listed. Now, after selecting them, press X to delete them.

Here’s how you get to cookie configuration on Internet Explorer. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. Adjust the slider for your desired privacy level.

Here’s how you get to cookie configuration on Firefox. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Go to Options / Preferences depending on you Operating System.
  2. Click on Privacy.
  3. In History pick Choose a personal configuration for history.
  4. Now you’ll see the option to Accept cookies, you can activate or deactivate it as you prefer.

Here’s how you get to cookie configuration on Safari on OSX. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  2. Now you’ll see the option to Block cookies so you can choose which type of block you want.

Here’s how you get to cookie configuration on Safari on iOS. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Go to Preferences, then Privacy.
  2. Now you’ll see the option to Block cookies so you can choose which type of block you want.

Here’s how you get to cookie configuration on Android. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Open the browser and then pick Menu, then Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy, and you’ll see the option to Accept cookies which you can check or uncheck.

Here’s how you get to cookies configuration on Windows Phone. Hint: Those steps may vary depending on your specific version

  1. Open Internet Explorer, then More settings, then Configuration
  2. You can now check or uncheck Allow cookies.

Cookie Helper (Asesor de Cookies) is a WordPress plugin created by por Carlos Doral (webartesanal.com)