function setCookie(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 function gets the cookie, if it exists
function getCookie(name) {
	var start = document.cookie.indexOf(name + "=");
	var len = start + name.length + 1;
	
	if ((!start) && (name != document.cookie.substring(0, name.length))) {
		return null;
	}
	
	if (start == -1) return null;

	var end = document.cookie.indexOf(";", len);
	if (end == -1) { 
		end = document.cookie.length; 
	}
	
	return unescape(document.cookie.substring(len, end));
}

// this deletes the cookie when called
function deleteCookie(name, path, domain) {
	if (getCookie(name)) { document.cookie = name + "=" +
		((path) ? ";path=" + path : "") +
		((domain) ? ";domain=" + domain : "") +
		";expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT";
	}
}