// SET THE DEFAULT PREFERENCES COOKIE - WILL ONLY WORK IF COOKIES ENABLED
	// ONLY NEED TO SET THE COOKIE IF ITS NOT ALREADY THERE
	if(getCookie('TWC_USERPREF') == null){
		setCookie('TWC_USERPREF',defaultPrefString);
	}// end if
	// ASSUME THE CLIENT HAS COOKIES ENABLED
	var hasCookiesEnabled = true;
	// NOW PULL THE PREFERENCES COOKIE STRING
	var prefs = getCookie('TWC_USERPREF');
	// CHECK IF COOKIES ENABLED, IF NOT USE THE STRING VAR
	if(prefs == null){
		// COOKIE NOT SET ABOVE BECAUSE OF COOKIES DISABLED, SO USE THE DEFAULT STRING
		prefs = defaultPrefString;
		// SET FLAG SO WE KNOW
		hasCookiesEnabled = false;
	}
	//alert("cookies enabled?"+hasCookiesEnabled);
	//alert("preferences set:"+prefs);
	// PARSE IT INTO AN ARRAY FROM A COMMA DELIM LIST OF KEY VALUE PAIRS
	var aPrefs = prefs.split(",");
	// CREATE A PREFERENCES DOCUMENT LEVEL JS OBJECT
	var objPrefs = new Object();
	// TRAVERSE THROUGH THE ARRAY AND REMOVE KEY VALUE PAIRS AND PLACE IN OBJECT AS PROPERTIES
	while (aPrefs.length > 0){
		var aTmp = aPrefs.shift().split("=");
		if(aTmp.length == 2){
			objPrefs[aTmp[0].toLowerCase()] = aTmp[1];
		}// END IF
		// CLEAN UP TEMP VARIABLE FROM MEMORY
		delete aTmp;
	}
	// CLEAN UP THE PREFERENCES ARRAY FROM MEMORY
	delete aPrefs;