function Set_Cookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) 
	{
	// set time, it's in milliseconds
	var today = new Date();
	today.setTime( today.getTime() );
	
	/*
	if the expires variable is set, make the correct 
	expires time, the current script below will set 
	it for x number of days, to make it for hours, 
	delete * 24, for minutes, delete * 60 * 24
	*/
	if ( expires )
	{
	expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
	}
	var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) );
	
	document.cookie = name + "=" +escape( value ) +
	( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + 
	( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + 
	( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
	( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
	}
	
	//this fixes an issue with the old method, ambiguous values 
	//with this test document.cookie.indexOf( name + "=" );
	function Get_Cookie( check_name ) {
		// first we'll split this cookie up into name/value pairs
		// note: document.cookie only returns name=value, not the other components
		var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' );
		var a_temp_cookie = '';
		var cookie_name = '';
		var cookie_value = '';
		var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f
		
		for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ )
		{
			// now we'll split apart each name=value pair
			a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split( '=' );
			
			
			// and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it
			cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
		
			// if the extracted name matches passed check_name
			if ( cookie_name == check_name )
			{
				b_cookie_found = true;
				// we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is):
				if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 )
				{
					cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') );
				}
				// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
				return cookie_value;
				break;
			}
			a_temp_cookie = null;
			cookie_name = '';
		}
		if ( !b_cookie_found )
		{
			return null;
		}
	}	
	
	//this deletes the cookie when called
	function Delete_Cookie( name, path, domain ) {
	if ( Get_Cookie( name ) ) document.cookie = name + "=" +
	( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "") +
	( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
	";expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT";
	}