diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
index f87cfea..dc020c6 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 
 	// whether SET NAMES must be used to set the character set
 	var $use_set_names;
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * Non-persistent database connection
 	 *
@@ -135,20 +135,9 @@
 	 */
 	function db_set_charset($charset, $collation)
 	{
-		if ( ! isset($this->use_set_names))
-		{
-			// mysql_set_charset() requires PHP >= 5.2.3 and MySQL >= 5.0.7, use SET NAMES as fallback
-			$this->use_set_names = (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.2.3', '>=') && version_compare(mysql_get_server_info(), '5.0.7', '>=')) ? FALSE : TRUE;
-		}
-
-		if ($this->use_set_names === TRUE)
-		{
-			return @mysql_query("SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'", $this->conn_id);
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			return @mysql_set_charset($charset, $this->conn_id);
-		}
+		return function_exists('mysql_set_charset')
+			? @mysql_set_charset($charset, $this->conn_id)
+			: @mysql_query("SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'", $this->conn_id);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
index ccd110f..abef80f 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 
 	// whether SET NAMES must be used to set the character set
 	var $use_set_names;
-	
+
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 	/**
@@ -135,20 +135,9 @@
 	 */
 	function _db_set_charset($charset, $collation)
 	{
-		if ( ! isset($this->use_set_names))
-		{
-			// mysqli_set_charset() requires MySQL >= 5.0.7, use SET NAMES as fallback
-			$this->use_set_names = (version_compare(mysqli_get_server_info($this->conn_id), '5.0.7', '>=')) ? FALSE : TRUE;
-		}
-
-		if ($this->use_set_names === TRUE)
-		{
-			return @mysqli_query($this->conn_id, "SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'");
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			return @mysqli_set_charset($this->conn_id, $charset);
-		}
+		return function_exists('mysqli_set_charset')
+			? @mysqli_set_charset($this->conn_id, $charset)
+			: @mysqli_query($this->conn_id, "SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'");
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -570,7 +559,7 @@
 	{
 		return "INSERT INTO ".$table." (".implode(', ', $keys).") VALUES ".implode(', ', $values);
 	}
-	
+
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 	/**
diff --git a/system/libraries/Email.php b/system/libraries/Email.php
index c8cb854..ef20e19 100644
--- a/system/libraries/Email.php
+++ b/system/libraries/Email.php
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 	var	$smtp_pass		= "";		// SMTP Password
 	var	$smtp_port		= "25";		// SMTP Port
 	var	$smtp_timeout	= 5;		// SMTP Timeout in seconds
+	var	$smtp_crypto	= "";		// SMTP Encryption. Can be null, tls or ssl.
 	var	$wordwrap		= TRUE;		// TRUE/FALSE  Turns word-wrap on/off
 	var	$wrapchars		= "76";		// Number of characters to wrap at.
 	var	$mailtype		= "text";	// text/html  Defines email formatting
@@ -1667,7 +1668,14 @@
 	 */
 	protected function _smtp_connect()
 	{
-		$this->_smtp_connect = fsockopen($this->smtp_host,
+		$ssl = NULL;
+
+		if ($this->smtp_crypto == 'ssl')
+		{
+			$ssl = 'ssl://';
+		}
+
+		$this->_smtp_connect = fsockopen($ssl.$this->smtp_host,
 										$this->smtp_port,
 										$errno,
 										$errstr,
@@ -1680,6 +1688,20 @@
 		}
 
 		$this->_set_error_message($this->_get_smtp_data());
+
+		if ($this->smtp_crypto == 'tls')
+		{
+			$this->_send_command('hello');
+			$this->_send_command('starttls');
+			$crypto = stream_socket_enable_crypto($this->_smtp_connect, TRUE, STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLS_CLIENT);
+		}
+
+		if ($crypto !== TRUE)
+		{
+			$this->_set_error_message('lang:email_smtp_error', $this->_get_smtp_data());
+			return FALSE;
+		}
+
 		return $this->_send_command('hello');
 	}
 
@@ -1706,6 +1728,12 @@
 
 						$resp = 250;
 			break;
+			case 'starttls'	:
+
+						$this->_send_data('STARTTLS');
+
+						$resp = 220;
+			break;
 			case 'from' :
 
 						$this->_send_data('MAIL FROM:<'.$data.'>');
diff --git a/user_guide/changelog.html b/user_guide/changelog.html
index 1a6cf98..c652cc8 100644
--- a/user_guide/changelog.html
+++ b/user_guide/changelog.html
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@
 			<li>Added <kbd>is_unique</kbd> to the <a href="libraries/form_validation.html">Form Validation library</a>.</li>
 			<li>Modified valid_ip() to use PHP's filter_var() when possible (>= PHP 5.2) in the <a href="libraries/form_validation.html">Form Validation</a> library.</li>
 			<li>Added <kbd>$config['use_page_numbers']</kbd> to the <a href="libraries/pagination.html">Pagination library</a>, which enables real page numbers in the URI.</li>
+			<li>Added TLS and SSL Encryption for SMTP.</li>
 		</ul>
 	</li>
 	<li>Core
diff --git a/user_guide/libraries/email.html b/user_guide/libraries/email.html
index d246254..de2f1c0 100644
--- a/user_guide/libraries/email.html
+++ b/user_guide/libraries/email.html
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
 
 <ul>
 <li>Multiple Protocols: Mail, Sendmail, and SMTP</li>
+<li>TLS and SSL Encryption for SMTP</li>
 <li>Multiple recipients</li>
 <li>CC and BCCs</li>
 <li>HTML or Plaintext email</li>
@@ -152,6 +153,8 @@
 </tr><tr>
 <td class="td"><strong>smtp_timeout</strong></td><td class="td">5</td><td class="td">None</td><td class="td">SMTP Timeout (in seconds).</td>
 </tr><tr>
+<td class="td"><strong>smtp_crypto</strong></td><td class="td">No Default</td><td class="td">tls or ssl</td><td class="td">SMTP Encryption.</td>
+</tr><tr>
 <td class="td"><strong>wordwrap</strong></td><td class="td">TRUE</td><td class="td">TRUE or FALSE (boolean)</td><td class="td">Enable word-wrap.</td>
 </tr><tr>
 <td class="td"><strong>wrapchars</strong></td><td class="td">76</td><td class="td"> </td><td class="td">Character count to wrap at.</td>
@@ -304,4 +307,4 @@
 </div>
 
 </body>
-</html>
\ No newline at end of file
+</html>