A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

No. Cookies are small pieces of text. They are not computer programs, and they can’t be executed as code. Also, they cannot be used to disseminate viruses, and modern versions of both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers allow users to set their own limitations to the number of cookies saved on their hard drives.

Cookies make the interaction between users and web sites faster and easier. Without cookies, it would be very difficult for a web site to allow a visitor to fill up a shopping cart or to remember the user’s preferences or registration details for a future visit.

Web sites use cookies mainly because they save time and make the browsing experience more efficient and enjoyable. Web sites often use cookies for the purposes of collecting demographic information about their users.

Cookies enable web sites to monitor their users’ web surfing habits and profile them for marketing purposes (for example, to find out which products or services they are interested in and send them targeted advertisements).

• Cookies techniques: They are the most basic and allow, among other things, knowing when you are browsing a human or an automated application, when an anonymous user navigates and one registered, basic tasks for running any dynamic web.
• Cookies analysis: Collect information on the type of navigation is performing, the sections most used, consulted products, time period of use, language, etc.
• Cookies advertising: Display advertising based on their navigation, their country of origin, language, etc.

Most cookies are easy to delete. Just pick your browser from the choices below and follow the instructions.

Google Chrome

1. Click on the Tools menu and select Options.
2. Click the Under the Bonnet tab, locate the Privacy section and click the Clear browsing data button.
3. Select Delete cookies and other site data to delete all cookies from the list (alternatively, you can remove all cookies created within a specific time period by selecting the period you want from the dropdown list).
4. Select Clear browsing history to delete traces of which websites you’ve visited.
5. Select Clear download history to delete records of which files and programs you’ve downloaded.
6. Select Empty the cache to delete cached website pages.
7. You can also delete saved passwords (which log you into websites) and saved form data (such as your name and address).
8. Then click on the Clear browsing data button.
9. Click on the Close button when you’ve finished.

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet explorer window.
2. Click the Tools button.
3. Point to safety and then click delete browsing history.
4. Tick the cookies box, then click delete.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Click on Tools, then Options (or Edit | Preferences on Linux).
2. Select Privacy.
3. In the Cookies panel, click on Show Cookies.
4. To remove a single cookie click on the entry in the list and click on the Remove Cookie button.
5. To remove all cookies click on the Remove All Cookies button.

Safari

1. Choose Preferences from Safari menu.
2. Select Security icon.
3. Press Show Cookies button.
4. Select the Cookies to be deleted from the list.
5. Press Delete button.