Cookie Policy

Last updated: 10 October 2026.

In short

We count visits without cookies. If you agree in the cookie banner, we also set an analytics cookie so we can understand how the site is used. You can refuse just as easily as accept, and you can change your mind at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page.

Cookies we set ourselves

• th_consent (necessary): remembers the choice you made in the cookie banner, so we do not ask on every page. Set when you make a choice. Lasts 6 months.
• th_vid (analytics, only if you agree): a random visitor ID. It lets us see which pages are read together and whether visitors come back. It contains no name, email address or other personal details, and we store it only in hashed form. Lasts 12 months.
• th_sid (analytics, only if you agree): a random session ID that groups the pages of one visit. Expires after 30 minutes without activity.

These are first-party cookies: they are written by this website in your browser and are not shared with other companies. Staff who sign in to manage the site use a separate session cookie in the staff area only.

Stored in your browser, not in cookies

• Reading mode: if you turn it on, your choice is kept in local storage so the next page opens the same way. It is not sent to us.
• Assistant panel: your conversation with the on-site assistant is kept in session storage and disappears when you close the tab.
• Where you came from on this site: when you open a tool from a search result or from the assistant, session storage remembers that for up to 30 minutes so that a click to the tool’s official website can be counted as coming from search or from the assistant. No identifier is involved.

What we count without cookies

Page views, searches, clicks to official websites and the kind of place a visit came from are counted in daily totals for everyone, without cookies and without storing your IP address. The details are in our Privacy Policy.

Third-party cookies and similar technologies

• Google AdSense: Google and its advertising partners use cookies and identifiers to deliver and measure ads and, with consent where required, to personalise them.
• Cloudflare: may set strictly necessary cookies for security, and the Turnstile check on forms may use browser storage to tell people from bots.
• YouTube: embedded videos load only when you press play. From that point YouTube may set cookies under its own policy.
• Partner websites: when you follow a link to another website, including affiliate links, that website applies its own cookie policy.

Your choices

• Use the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of any page to see and change your choice. If you reject or untick analytics, the th_vid and th_sid cookies are deleted straight away, the session records linked to that ID are removed from our systems and no further identified data is collected.
• Where consent is required by law, a consent message lets you accept or refuse advertising cookies and change your choice later.
• You can manage Google ad personalisation at adssettings.google.com.
• You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site remains readable without them.

More about how we handle personal data is in our Privacy Policy.