Use of Cookies

Information about our use of cookies

Last updated: 27 August 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 most eTroop.com published sites including this one.

  • 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.
 

Please note that, as well as Google Analytics, eTroop 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 athttp://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.