Last updated: August 16, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, which ones are used on tooldetective.com, what they do, and how you can control them. It should be read alongside our Privacy Policy.
What Cookies Are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store. When you return to that site, or move between its pages, the browser hands the file back, which lets the site recognize the same browser. Cookies cannot run programs, and they cannot read files on your computer or carry a virus.
Related technologies do similar jobs. Local storage and session storage keep small amounts of data in your browser. Pixels and tracking scripts can record that a page was loaded. Where this policy says cookies, it covers these similar technologies too.
Cookies are either first party, set by the site you are visiting, or third party, set by another company whose content or service appears on the page. They are also either session cookies, which disappear when you close the browser, or persistent cookies, which stay until they expire or you delete them.
Cookies Used on This Site
Strictly Necessary
These make the site function and cannot be switched off from within the site. They include cookies set by WordPress, the software this site runs on, to manage a logged in session and to protect form submissions against forgery. Ordinary readers do not log in, so most visitors will never receive these. Our caching layer and our security and bot protection measures may also set technical cookies or flags so that pages are served correctly and abusive automated traffic can be separated from real readers.
Analytics and Measurement
We measure traffic so we know which pages are worth keeping and improving. A session cookie named ddc_sid is set to recognize one browsing session, so that several page views by the same reader are not counted as several different readers. It expires when your session ends.
This measurement covers page views, referral source, device type, approximate location at country or region level, and clicks on outbound links. It is not used to build an advertising profile, and it is not used to identify you personally.
Functional
The underlying ecommerce components of the WordPress installation that powers our product review pages may set functional cookies, typically to remember a session or a preference as you move around the site. We do not sell products directly and we do not take payments here, so these cookies are a byproduct of the platform rather than part of a checkout.
Third Party and Affiliate Cookies
ToolDetective earns commissions through affiliate links, as set out in our Affiliate Disclosure.
When you click through to a retailer such as Amazon, that retailer sets its own cookies on its own domain in order to credit any resulting purchase to us. Amazon’s cookie for this purpose has a limited lifetime, commonly described by the program as 24 hours from the click. These cookies are set and read by the retailer, not by us. We cannot see them, control them, or delete them, and they are governed by that retailer’s own cookie and privacy policies.
Similarly, if a page includes an embedded video, a social sharing button, or a similar feature from another service, that service can set its own cookies when the feature loads or when you use it.
How to Control Cookies
You are in charge of the cookies on your own machine. Every major browser lets you see what is stored, delete what is there, block cookies from specific sites, block third party cookies as a class, or refuse cookies altogether. The controls usually sit under Settings, then Privacy or Privacy and Security. Browser help pages for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Brave all document the exact steps for the current version.
Two things are worth knowing before you block everything. Blocking strictly necessary cookies can break parts of a site, including this one. And blocking affiliate cookies at the retailer’s end does not cost you anything and does not change your price, but it does mean a purchase you make after following one of our links may not be credited to us, which is how this site is funded.
Private or incognito browsing windows normally discard cookies when the window closes, which is a simple way to limit persistence without changing your everyday settings.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
We do not perform cross site behavioral advertising, so a Do Not Track header has little to act on here. Where your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a valid opt out request under the state privacy laws that recognize it.
Changes to This Policy
If the cookies used on this site change, this page will be updated and the revision date at the top will change with it.
Contact
Questions about cookies on this site can go to [email protected].