Last updated: 4 November 2026.
Storage and controls at a glance
| Category | Purpose | Duration or limit | Your control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account and form cookies | Sign-in and security | Sign-in up to 7 days; forms up to 2 hours | Sign out or clear browser cookies |
| Provider sign-in cookies | Complete Google or Facebook sign-in | Linking up to 10 minutes; unfinished registration up to 30 minutes | Finish or abandon the sign-in process |
| Contact CAPTCHA cookie | Bind a security check to this browser | Up to 30 minutes | Clear browser cookies; email support if the form cannot be used |
| Guest quiz identifier | Support the requested quiz preview | Up to 30 days | Clear browser cookies |
| Functional browser storage | Quiz recovery, reminders and cross-tab updates | Session storage ends with the browser session; local flags remain until cleared or removed by the feature | Browser storage controls |
| Measurement choices | Remember consent, rejection or exclusion | Up to 180 days | Privacy preferences |
| First-party visitor cookie | Recognise browsers across visits | Up to 180 days | Disable visit history in Privacy preferences |
| Google Analytics cookies | Google visit and engagement measurement | Normally up to 2 years, subject to settings and browser limits | Disable Google Analytics in Privacy preferences |
| Advertising technology | Ad delivery, measurement and permitted personalisation | Depends on the vendor and browser | Google advertising privacy message and regional opt-out controls |
Browser cookie lifetimes differ from server retention. Detailed visit history and grouped hourly activity last up to 395 days; overview sessions up to eight days; separately encrypted connection IP records up to seven days, with restricted backups rotating afterwards. See the Privacy notice for the full retention and deletion explanation.
Essential features
Cookies are small values stored by your browser. We use essential cookies to keep accounts and forms secure and to provide features you request. They are separate from optional advertising consent.
The secure sign-in cookie lasts up to 7 days. Form-protection cookies last up to 2 hours. Google/Facebook sign-in linking cookies last up to 10 minutes, and unfinished social registration cookies up to 30 minutes. A guest quiz identifier lasts up to 30 days. Signing out ends your website session; provider sign-in sessions are controlled separately by Google or Facebook.
Storage on your device
Session storage can keep pending quiz answers and prevent duplicate attempt starts. Local storage holds quiz-reminder flags and a cross-tab study-update signal. These are functional features, not advertising profiles. Browser settings let you clear this storage, but doing so may remove unsaved answers or reset guest preview state. Account-saved progress remains on the site unless it is separately deleted.
Video quality and playback-speed controls affect the current player. We do not save video playback positions to your account or dashboard. Permitted video play counts and active playing time are measurement records, not saved resume positions.
Measurement storage and regional choices
For a fresh browser estimated to be outside the EEA, UK, Switzerland and associated European territories, visit measurement and Google Analytics start automatically unless you opt out in Privacy preferences. In those regions and for unknown countries, all visitor measurement, including browser recognition, IP connection records and Google Analytics, requires an affirmative choice. Saved refusals, exclusions and Global Privacy Control always override these defaults. Country estimation uses a local DB-IP database without sending your IP address to DB-IP. A preference cookie and a consent receipt remember submitted choices for up to 180 days. Google Analytics can use its own first-party cookies, normally up to two years subject to browser limits. Withdrawing permission stops new Google measurement and attempts to remove applicable first-party Google Analytics cookies. These settings do not grant advertising permission.
Anonymous activity counters
With visit measurement disabled, the live counter adds no analytics cookie and expires its current tab state within 90 seconds. The same accepted live signal saves grouped minute public-page totals for up to eight days. Unlinked page views are not counted as visitors. Private-page URLs are never saved. A separate page token in memory, expiring after 30 minutes of inactivity, supports grouped hourly activity totals retained for up to 395 days. No persistent visitor identifier or individual browsing trail is stored for these aggregate page totals. Existing login cookies provide only guest/member categorisation. You can exclude this browser in Privacy preferences. Administrator alert preferences stay in the administrator's browser.
Optional visit-history cookie
When visit measurement is enabled by the regional settings or your choice above, we set __Host-aa-visitor, a secure first-party HTTP-only cookie lasting up to 180 days. It recognises returning browsers and groups permitted public-page and video activity into visits. Pages, reloads and tabs share one overview session, ending after 30 minutes without activity; signing in does not add another session. Minimal overview-session records are retained for up to eight days without account identities or private URLs. Database visit records, including an approximate country and referring website without its path or query, are retained for up to 395 days. No IP fingerprint is used. Account linkage requires an additional signed-in member choice. Removing history permission deletes the current browser's detailed records and expires this cookie. When enabled, a separately encrypted IP connection record is kept for seven days, accessible only to the administrator; rotating backups may retain it for up to about seven further days. It is not sent as a field to Google or used to deduplicate visitors. Google Analytics and advertising permissions remain separate.
Advertising choices
AdSense is planned but remains off until configured and enabled. If ads are enabled, Google and other advertising partners may use cookies or similar technology for ad delivery, measurement, fraud prevention and permitted personalisation. Read the advertising section of our Privacy notice and Google's cookie information.
When applicable, Google's privacy message lets you accept or refuse optional purposes and review vendors. On a page displaying ads, use Privacy and cookie settings or the regional privacy/opt-out link to change available choices. The choices are not granted by signing up, signing in or accepting the terms of use. Some choices apply only to the current browser, so review them on each device you use.
You can also review Google My Ad Center and YourAdChoices. Disabling personalisation does not necessarily block all ads or storage. Our account and community pages do not load advertising scripts.
Browser controls and questions
Your browser can block or clear cookies and other site storage. Blocking essential cookies can prevent sign-in and saving quiz progress. Google Analytics runs only with the permission described above; we do not use a Meta advertising pixel. Google Fonts may receive technical requests to display the site's fonts.
For help with a privacy choice, email hello@accountingahead.com.au. For account records, see Account and data deletion.