Cookie Policy

Version 1.0.1

Effective Date: October 8, 2026

This Cookie Policy explains how the Site uses cookies and similar technologies. Bristlecone IT Services (“BITS,” “we,” “us”) is operated by Corey J. Mahler. This Cookie Policy is part of our Privacy Policy, and capitalized terms that are not defined here have the meanings given in our Terms of Service.

What Cookies Are

Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser. “First-party” cookies are set under the website’s own domain. Similar technologies include browser storage and small scripts that send measurements to a service provider.

Cookies We Use

Analytics Cookies

The Site sets two first-party analytics cookies through WPMU DEV Analytics, which is based on Matomo and operated by WPMU DEV. The analytics script is delivered to your browser from a content delivery network, BunnyCDN. These cookies help us understand which pages people visit. They are not used for advertising.

_pk_id: stores a random visitor ID so that repeat visits can be counted. Lifetime: about 13 months. Provider: WPMU DEV Analytics (Matomo).
_pk_ses: groups page views into a single visit. Lifetime: 30 minutes. Provider: WPMU DEV Analytics (Matomo).

The full name of each cookie adds characters after _pk_id or _pk_ses that identify the Site’s analytics account. These cookies are scoped to the Site’s domain, bristleconeit.com, and the analytics data they help collect is sent to WPMU DEV. Whether IP addresses are masked, and how long analytics data is kept, are governed by WPMU DEV’s practices. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Security and Login Cookies

wpdef_lockout_ followed by your IP address, with its punctuation replaced by underscores: our security plugin sets this cookie only when a visitor is locked out after repeated failed login attempts or repeated requests for pages that do not exist. Lifetime: 1 hour.
wordpress_test_cookie: WordPress sets this cookie only on the Site’s login page, to check whether your browser accepts cookies. Lifetime: session cookie, deleted when you close your browser.

Ordinary visitors do not see the lockout page or the login page, so they do not receive these cookies.

Other Technologies

Cloudflare Web Analytics. Cloudflare adds a small script that measures page loads and performance. Cloudflare Web Analytics does not use cookies.
Network Error Logging. The Site asks your browser to report failed connections to Cloudflare, which helps keep the Site reachable. This does not use cookies.
Emoji check. WordPress stores a small value in your browser’s session storage to check whether your browser can display emoji. It is cleared when you close the browser tab, and it is not a cookie. If your browser cannot display emoji on its own, WordPress may load emoji images from WordPress.org’s servers.

Cloudflare Security Cookies

Cloudflare protects the Site from abuse. If Cloudflare decides to check whether a visitor is a person, it may set security cookies, such as __cf_bm or cf_clearance. We did not observe these cookies during ordinary visits.

Cookies We Do Not Use

We do not use advertising cookies, social media cookies, or cross-site tracking cookies. The Site does not use Google Analytics, advertising pixels, Google Fonts, Gravatar, or content embedded from other sites, and our forms do not use CAPTCHA services. Visitors do not need an account, and apart from the login-page cookie described above, the Site does not set login cookies.

Your Choices

The Site does not show a cookie consent prompt, and we do not ask for or collect your consent to the analytics cookies. They are set when a page loads. Our analytics do not respond to Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals, so turning on those signals will not stop the analytics cookies.

You can still control them:

Browser cookie controls. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies, either for all sites or for a single site. Your browser’s help pages explain how.
Blocking extensions. You can use a browser extension that blocks analytics scripts or cookies.

The Site works without the analytics cookies, so blocking them will not affect your use of the Site.

Products

This Cookie Policy covers the Site only. Products with their own Product Terms, such as zDiary, are governed by those Product Terms and their privacy policies.

Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy when the cookies on the Site change. When we do, we will post the updated version at https://bristleconeit.com/cookie-policy/ and change the version number and the Effective Date.

Contact Us

Corey J. Mahler

PO Box 296

Townsend, TN 37882

Contact form: https://bristleconeit.com/contact/