Information about our use of cookies
Last updated: 16 February 2013
Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of the
site. Cookies help us improve your experience when you browse our
site, especially when you revisit it.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that our site
stores of your device, for example your computer, laptop, tablet or
mobile phone.
We use the following cookies on SO Switch.
- Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required
for the operation of our site. For example, cookies that enables
you to log into secure areas of our site, to make an online
payment.
- Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and
count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around
our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way
our site works in an informed way, for example, by ensuring that
users are finding what they are looking for easily.
- Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our site,
the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will
use this information to make our site and the advertising displayed
on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this
information with third parties for this purpose.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we
use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below.
|
Cookie name
|
Cookie Provider
|
Type
|
Expires
|
Information
|
|
PREF
|
Google
|
performance
|
2 years
|
The browser sends this cookie with requests to Google's sites,
it stores preferences and other information, such as your preferred
language, how many search results you wish to have shown per page,
and whether or not you wish to have Google's SafeSearch filter
turned on.
Further
information on Google Analytics cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
__utma
|
Google Analytics
|
Targeting
|
2 years
|
This tracks the first and last visit and the number of times you
visit our site. Each unique browser that visits a page on the site
is provided with a unique ID so subsequent visits to the website
via the same browser are recorded as belonging to the same
visitor.
Further
information on Google Analytics cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
__utmb
|
Google Analytics
|
Targeting
|
30 minutes
|
A timestamp of the exact moment in time when you enter our site
is used by Google to establish a session. If either of this or the
__utmc cookie is absent, further activity by the user initiates the
start of a new session.
Further
information on Google Analytics cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
__utmc
|
Google Analytics
|
Targeting
|
End of session
|
A timestamp of the exact moment in time when you leave the site
- having waited 30 minutes for another page view to happen, and if
it doesn't, it expires. If either of this or the __utmb cookie is
absent, further activity by the user initiates the start of a new
session.
Further
information on Google Analytics cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
__utmz
|
Google Analytics
|
Targeting
|
6 months
|
This keeps track of where you came from, what search engine was
used, what link was clicked on, what keywords used, and where in
the world the site was accessed from. It is used to determine
visitor navigation within the site and gets updated with each
subsequent page view to the site. The type of referral information
of the visitor stored includes the referring site via a search
engine result, a direct link, or an ad that links to the page.
Further
information on Google Analytics cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
__atuvc
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
2 years
|
The AddThis social sharing site uses Javascript on the client
side to create and use this cookie. No data from the cookie is sent
back to AddThis but it ensures the page count is updated when a
user shares a page and returns to it before the share count cache
is updated.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
di
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
2 years
|
This stores a randomly generated number, which allows users to
share content via Social Networking websites and email. When we
provide links to third party services you find useful, they may
place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to
use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
dt
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
1 month
|
This stores an "X", which allows users to share content via
Social Networking websites and email. When we provide links to
third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on
your device to make their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
loc
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
2 months
|
This stores a country code and randomly generated letters and
numbers, which allows users to share content via Social Networking
websites and email. When we provide links to third party services
you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make
their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
psc
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
End of session
|
This stores a number, which allows users to share content via
Social Networking websites and email. When we provide links to
third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on
your device to make their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
uid
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
End of session
|
This randomly generates and stores letters and numbers, which
allows users to share content via Social Networking websites and
email. When we provide links to third party services you find
useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make their
service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
uit
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
1 day
|
This stores a number, which allows users to share content via
Social Networking websites and email. When we provide links to
third party services you find useful, they may place a cookie on
your device to make their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
user_segment
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
1 month
|
This allows users to share content via Social Networking
websites and email. When we provide links to third party services
you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make
their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
uvc
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
End of session
|
This allows users to share content via Social Networking
websites and email. When we provide links to third party services
you find useful, they may place a cookie on your device to make
their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
|
ssh
|
AddThis
|
performance
|
2 years
|
This stores your favourite preferences to allow you to share
content via Social Networking websites and email. When we provide
links to third party services you find useful, they may place a
cookie on your device to make their service easier to use.
Further information on
AddThis cookies and how to opt out.
|
Please note that, as well as Google Analytics,WeSO Switch uses
other third party cookies, including, for example, from advertising
networks and providers of external services like web traffic
analysis services. These cookies are likely to be
analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies. Please check
the third party's privacy policy for information about the cookies
they use.
We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is being used
in order to improve the user experience. User data is all
anonymous. This analytics tool is used to analyse site usage, how
our users arrive at our site, what they do on the site, what
browser they are using and on what operating system etc. However,
this analytics data is not tied to personally identifiable
information. You can find out more about Google's position on
privacy as regards its analytics service at http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all
websites visit
http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
For further reading on cookies you can visit
AboutCookies.org
You can block other cookies 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 wish to restrict, block or delete cookies from our
website - or any other website - you can use your browser to do
this. Each browser is different so check the 'Help' menu of your
particular browser to learn how to change your cookie
preferences.