What are cookies?
- Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to your device so the website can remember your preferences and provide you with a more secure online experience.
- Almost every website you visit uses cookies. For security reasons, many websites will not function at all without the use of cookies.
- Cookies generally do not hold any information to identify an individual person and they are not harmful to your system.
How to change or manage your cookies
If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can block cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
If you’d like to change your browser’s cookie settings, the following links can help:
- Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
- Cookie settings in Firefox
- Cookie settings in Chrome
- Cookie settings in Safari
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them visit All About Cookies.
How we use cookies
We use cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regards how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as products and / or services in response to what you might need or want.
All analytical data about you is anonymized and does not identify an individual.
There are two main types of cookies:
- Session cookies: These are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser. They usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer.
- Persistent cookies: These are stored as files on your computer and remain there when you close your web browser. These cookies can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again.
We use cookies for the core functionality of the website (e.g. security), to enable social sharing of posts, enabling purchases, tracking visits from emails, and tracking affiliate links you click.
Cookies can also be categorized as:
- Necessary cookies. These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
- Functional cookies. These cookies allow us to provide you with a better online experience when you use our website, such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. They do not gather or store any information which would allow us to identify you personally.
- Performance cookies. These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources, and see which parts of the site are most popular.