If we told you that Google knows more about you than you imagine , it knows if you went to dinner at a restaurant last night, if your mobile phone screen is on or off, know if You sent audio messages and who you sent it to.
When you read the previous paragraph the first thing you think is in a principle of denial, saying “No, this is impossible, it cannot be true!”
Unfortunately this situation is true since Google stores small files in our browser for what we get our data. This is possible thanks to cookies, which are installed every time we browse different Internet pages.
Index:
What are cookies and what are these files for?
If you are an avid Internet user, you have heard of “cookies.” These are small files that are installed through your browser to improve, in principle, your navigability and to be able to remember your preferences regarding a specific site and thus prevent you from being returned to that site again to ask the same thing.
An example of this would be when you select on a particular page in which language you want to read the article. If you choose, for example, English you will not need to put this option again every time you enter that same site. This is a job that was done through a cookie.
Cookies originally responded to improving the experience that browsers had in front of a computer screen, unfortunately this was changing little by little, since the developers realized that entering codes in those cookies can get to get much more information than you are requested .
To continue with the example of the English language, when you enter a cookie they ask you to choose the language … but at the same time they are accessing with their own codes or third-party codes and they reveal the information they need about you.
The popularity of using these tools has been steadily growing since they were created since they are very practical and easily accessible to achieve your goals .
Why it is important to regularly remove the “cookies” from your browser Internet?
Having interacted more than once with cookies without realizing that we were collecting information at that time, it is necessary to remove them from our history so that our preferences and other personal data are protected .
If you wonder, cookies are present on all websites that have “http” or “https protocol and work for both computers and for mobile phones . It is important to delete them when we are in a browser that is public and we can leave open sessions of personal accounts even if we have successfully closed the browser.
Another situation for which it is necessary to erase the «cookies periodically is because with them they can direct us directly targeted advertising, and what we least want many times when we browse is to see commercial ads.
And, on the other hand, it is necessary to delete the “cookies” because, they make our browser much slower since it has to obtain the data it is looking for in a larger number of files.
Are “cookies” a real threat to our security and privacy in the web?
Many times we wonder if really everything we read about these dark cookies are as they say, if our security and privacy on the web are being threatened by these “cookies”, in English “cookies” .
The answer is yes , they are a threat to our security. If you think that there are third parties that you do not know, that behind all this there are large corporations or simply people and manage your activity on the web , it is a point that you should consider with greater attention and time.
For example, there are records of:
- Places where we were , if you have activated Google Maps via GPS, you can easily access where you moved and how long you were in a bookstore, for example.
- Voice and text messages , third parties can access this information through the authorizations we have made for both WhatsApp and other applications in which texts and text messages are needed voice.
- Videos we watch , although it seems incredible every time you watch a video on YouTube you are delivering valuable information for sites where they collect and store our data in the future.
- Photos , as well as voice and text messages, when we share our images through social networks or emails, “cookies” collect this information.
- Our preferences in general , every time that we browse unconsciously we are choosing the pages that we like the most and we leave our traces so that the cookies, through their codes, take note and then give us all those pages or advertisements that are to our liking. In other words, we buy our own tastes and give or give away for free.
How many types of cookies are there and what are each used for?
There are two kinds of “cookies that are installed in our browser, there are temporary and permanent ones. Each of them have similar functions but they differ in how long they will remain on our computer or mobile phone.
Here we detail and analyze each of them:
Temporary cookies
We call “Temporary cookie” to the file that is installed when you log in to an Internet browser. These work, for example, when they ask us for a password on a site, and they are unique to each user. They are deleted once we finish the session and close the computer automatically.
Permanent cookies
The permanent or persistent cookies are all other cookies (not temporary) and that persist beyond the browser’s opening or closing. They are hosted directly on the hard drive of the operating unit. They do not have an expiration date so to delete them you can only do it through the user.
Steps to remove the “cookies” from all your browsers from your computer
Deleting the permanent “cookies” from your browser is not difficult, but you must be aware of every step you take so that the result is optimal and you have no problems in the future. Each browser has different features that you have to know.
Next, we detail the step-by-step steps you must take to delete the cookies according to the browser you use:
In Mozilla Firefox
In order to delete cookies with this browser you will have to follow these instructions:
- We click on «Menu»
- «Catalog»
- We choose importantHistorial for
- «Clear recent history …»
- We add the «Time interval to erase:»
- «Everything»
In Google Chrome
In order to delete “cookies” in our Chrome browser, we will have to:
- We open Chrome
- We search «More»
- We click on “More tools”
- “Clear browsing data”
- “All periods”
- We mark “Cookies and other site data” and “Files and images cached”
- Click in “Clear data”
In Opera
If the browser is Opera and what we need is to delete cookies, we will follow each of these instructions:
- We look for the option importantMenu where
- We click on additionalTools later
- Choose «Delete personal information»
- Press “Detailed options”
- “Delete all tracks”
- At this moment we have to choose if we want to delete all cookies and all other history, for what concerns us is to delete the “cookies” we will have to choose uncheck the boxes of the other options private data
- We conclude by pressing clearlyEliminate for
In Safari
When our browser is Safari, we will proceed like this:
- We choose «Safari»
- We search and click on «Preferences»
- Select representedPrivacy of
- Click on “Manage website data”
Finally we choose “Delete all”
In Microsoft Edge
To delete cookies in a Microsoft Edge browser we will do the following steps:
- Open Microsoft Edge
- We search « More «
- We do click on « Configuration «
- Select « Delete scan data «
- Click on « Choose what to delete «
- We search to select« Delete »
As with a computer, deleting cookies from an Android mobile phone or iPhone smartphone will depend on the browser you use.
Next we detail the steps to follow to delete the spy files depending on your browser. We also detail for the different operating systems:
In Mozilla
When the browser is Mozilla and we need to delete the “cookies”, we have two options: one is to delete cookies from a certain site and the second option is to delete from all sites.
In order to delete according to a specific site, these are the step-by-step steps you must follow:
- We look for the «Menu» button in the open browser and click there
- Press where it says «Options»
- A list will open and we choose “Privacy and security”
- We select “Cookies and site data”
- Next, we search “Manage data …” to select
- In “Search websites” we will have to write the site data that we want to delete and automatically all the data related to the site in question will come out
- We search to press «Delete all»
- Click on «Save changes »
- We will have to confirm « Delete cookies and data from the site: »
- And finally click on « Accept »
To delete all cookies from all sites we will have to do this step by step:
- «Menu» in our open browser
- «Options»
- «Privacy and security »
- « Clear data … »
- Of the two options « Cookies and site data » and “Cached web content” that will be presented we will have to mark both
- Finally CleanClean ahead
In the case of an iOS phone, we will have to follow this procedure:
- Select «Menu»
- «Settings»
- We go to “Settings” of Firefox,
- We choose accounPrivacy through
- Then we search «Data management»
- Select the button choosing each information we want to delete.
- We click on «Clean private data»
- «Accept»
If we want to delete part of our “cookies”, we will do the first 4 steps and there we will choose:
- «Site data»
- «Edit»
- Select the color button red that is next to each data
- And finally we press «Clear data from all sites»
In Chrome
If the browser is Chrome we will have to perform the following steps:
- Open Chrome
- Click largerMore
- «More tools»
- “Clear browsing data”
- We choose the time interval “All periods”
- We mark “Cookies and other site data” and “Files and images cached”
- We select “Clear data”
If what we want is for the system to do it automatically, that is to say that each cookie you enter is deleted without what we do manually, we will have to perform these steps:
- We click on «Advanced settings»
- We search «Website settings»
- We choose «Cookies»
- We deactivate the option «Allow websites to save and consult cookie data»
Now if the operating system is iOS, we will perform these steps to delete cookies:
- Select «Menu»
- «Settings»
- «Privacy»
- Choose «Clear cache, Clear cookies and site data»
- Select “Delete all” or choose the site we want to delete.
In Opera
If we have chosen Opera as a browser and we want to delete the “cookies” we will have to do each of the following steps: