What is a cookie?

A cookie is a harmless text file stored in your browser when you visit almost any website. The usefulness of the cookie is that the website is able to remember your visit when you browse that page again. Although many people are unaware of this, cookies have been in use for 20 years, since the first World Wide Web browsers appeared.

What a cookie is NOT

It is not a virus, a Trojan, a worm, spam, spyware, nor does it open pop-up windows.

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 number or personal information, etc. The data they store is technical in nature, such as personal preferences and content personalisation, etc.

The web server does not associate you as a person, but rather your web browser. In fact, if you normally browse with Internet Explorer and try browsing the same website with Firefox or Chrome, you will see that the website does not recognise you as the same person, because it is actually associating the browser, not the person.

What types of cookies are there?

• Technical cookies: These are the most basic and allow, among other things, knowing when a human or an automated application is browsing, when an anonymous or a registered user is browsing — basic tasks for the functioning of any dynamic website.
• Analytics cookies: They collect information about the type of browsing you are doing, the sections you use most, products viewed, the time slot of use, language, etc.
• Advertising cookies: They display advertising based on your browsing, your country of origin, language, etc.

What are first-party and third-party cookies?

First-party 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 disable cookies?

To help you understand the impact that disabling cookies can have, 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 content to your personal preferences, as often happens in online shops.
• You will not be able to access the personal area of that website, such as My Account, My Profile or My Orders.
• Online shops: it will be impossible for you to make online purchases; you will have to do so by phone or by visiting the physical shop, if it has one.
• It will not be possible to personalise your geographic preferences, such as time zone, currency or language.
• The website will not be able to carry out web analytics on visitors and traffic, which will make it harder for the site to remain competitive.
• You will not be able to write on the blog, upload photos, publish comments, or rate or score content. Nor will the site be able to tell whether you are a human or an automated application publishing spam.
• Sector-targeted advertising will not be able to be shown, which will reduce 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 can they be deleted, they can also be blocked, either generally or for a specific domain.

To delete cookies from a website, go to your browser's settings, where you can search for those associated with the domain in question and proceed to delete them.

Cookie settings for the most popular browsers

Below we explain how to access a specific cookie in Chrome. Note: these steps may vary depending on the browser version:

1. Go to Settings or Preferences via the File menu, or by clicking the customisation icon at the top right.
2. You will see different sections; click Show advanced settings.
3. Go to Privacy, Content settings.
4. Select All cookies and site data.
5. A list of all cookies sorted by domain will appear. To make it easier to find cookies from a particular domain, enter part or all of the address in the Search cookies field.
6. After filtering, one or more lines with cookies from the requested website will appear on screen. Simply select it and click the X to delete it.

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

1. Go to Tools, Internet Options
2. Click Privacy.
3. Move the slider to adjust your desired privacy level.

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

1. Go to Options or Preferences, depending on your operating system.
2. Click Privacy.
3. Under History, choose Use custom settings for history.
4. You will now see the Accept cookies option, which you can enable or disable according to your preferences.

To access cookie settings in Safari for OSX, 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, which lets you adjust the type of blocking you want.

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

1. Go to Settings, then Safari.
2. Go to Privacy & Security, where you will see the Block cookies option to adjust the type of blocking you want.

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

1. Open the browser and press the Menu key, then Settings.
2. Go to Security & Privacy, where you will see the Accept cookies option, which you can enable or disable.

To access cookie settings in the browser on 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 enable or disable the Allow cookies checkbox.