diff --git a/system/libraries/Session.php b/system/libraries/Session.php
index 31a162e..9907ade 100644
--- a/system/libraries/Session.php
+++ b/system/libraries/Session.php
@@ -26,17 +26,24 @@
  */
 class CI_Session {
 
+	var $sess_encrypt_cookie		= FALSE;
+	var $sess_use_database			= FALSE;
+	var $sess_table_name			= '';
+	var $sess_expiration			= 7200;
+	var $sess_match_ip				= FALSE;
+	var $sess_match_useragent		= TRUE;
+	var $sess_cookie_name			= 'ci_session';
+	var $cookie_prefix				= '';
+	var $cookie_path				= '';
+	var $cookie_domain				= '';
+	var $sess_time_to_update		= 300;
+	var $encryption_key				= '';
+	var $flashdata_key 				= 'flash';
+	var $time_reference				= 'time';
+	var $gc_probability				= 5;
+	var $userdata					= array();
 	var $CI;
 	var $now;
-	var $encryption		= TRUE;
-	var $use_database	= FALSE;
-	var $session_table	= FALSE;
-	var $sess_length	= 7200;
-	var $sess_cookie	= 'ci_session';
-	var $userdata		= array();
-	var $gc_probability	= 5;
-	var $flashdata_key 	= 'flash';
-	var $time_to_update	= 300;
 
 	/**
 	 * Session Constructor
@@ -44,132 +51,70 @@
 	 * The constructor runs the session routines automatically
 	 * whenever the class is instantiated.
 	 */		
-	function CI_Session()
+	function CI_Session($params = array())
 	{
-		$this->CI =& get_instance();
-
 		log_message('debug', "Session Class Initialized");
-		$this->sess_run();
-	}
-	
-	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
-	
-	/**
-	 * Run the session routines
-	 *
-	 * @access	public
-	 * @return	void
-	 */		
-	function sess_run()
-	{
-		/*
-		 *  Set the "now" time
-		 *
-		 * It can either set to GMT or time(). The pref
-		 * is set in the config file.  If the developer
-		 * is doing any sort of time localization they
-		 * might want to set the session time to GMT so
-		 * they can offset the "last_activity" time
-		 * based on each user's locale.
-		 *
-		 */
 
-		if (is_numeric($this->CI->config->item('sess_time_to_update')))
+		// Set the super object to a local variable for use throughout the class
+		$this->CI =& get_instance();
+		
+		// Set all the session preferences, which can either be set 
+		// manually via the $params array above or via the config file
+		foreach (array('sess_encrypt_cookie', 'sess_use_database', 'sess_table_name', 'sess_expiration', 'sess_match_ip', 'sess_match_useragent', 'sess_cookie_name', 'cookie_path', 'cookie_domain', 'sess_time_to_update', 'time_reference', 'cookie_prefix', 'encryption_key') as $key)
 		{
-			$this->time_to_update = $this->CI->config->item('sess_time_to_update');
-		}
+			$this->$key = (isset($params[$key])) ? $params[$key] : $this->CI->config->item($key);
+		}		
+	
+		// Load the string helper so we can use the strip_slashes() function
+		$this->CI->load->helper('string');
 
-		if (strtolower($this->CI->config->item('time_reference')) == 'gmt')
-		{
-			$now = time();
-			$this->now = mktime(gmdate("H", $now), gmdate("i", $now), gmdate("s", $now), gmdate("m", $now), gmdate("d", $now), gmdate("Y", $now));
-	
-			if (strlen($this->now) < 10)
-			{
-				$this->now = time();
-				log_message('error', 'The session class could not set a proper GMT timestamp so the local time() value was used.');
-			}
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$this->now = time();
-		}
-		
-		/*
-		 *  Set the session length
-		 *
-		 * If the session expiration is set to zero in
-		 * the config file we'll set the expiration
-		 * two years from now.
-		 *
-		 */
-		$expiration = $this->CI->config->item('sess_expiration');
-		
-		if (is_numeric($expiration))
-		{
-			if ($expiration > 0)
-			{
-				$this->sess_length = $this->CI->config->item('sess_expiration');
-			}
-			else
-			{
-				$this->sess_length = (60*60*24*365*2);
-			}
-		}
-		
-		// Do we need encryption?
-		$this->encryption = $this->CI->config->item('sess_encrypt_cookie');
-	
-		if ($this->encryption == TRUE)	
+		// Do we need encryption? If so, load the encryption class
+		if ($this->sess_encrypt_cookie == TRUE)	
 		{
 			$this->CI->load->library('encrypt');
 		}		
 
-		// Are we using a database?
-		if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_use_database') === TRUE AND $this->CI->config->item('sess_table_name') != '')
+		// Are we using a database?  If so, load it
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === TRUE AND $this->sess_table_name != '')
 		{
-			$this->use_database = TRUE;
-			$this->session_table = $this->CI->config->item('sess_table_name');
 			$this->CI->load->database();
 		}
-		
-		// Set the cookie name
-		if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_cookie_name') != FALSE)
+
+		// Set the "now" time.  Can either be GMT or server time, based on the
+		// config prefs.  We use this to set the "last activity" time
+		$this->now = $this->_get_time();
+
+		// Set the session length. If the session expiration is
+		// set to zero we'll set the expiration two years from now.
+		if ($this->sess_expiration == 0)
 		{
-			$this->sess_cookie = $this->CI->config->item('cookie_prefix').$this->CI->config->item('sess_cookie_name');
+			$this->sess_expiration = (60*60*24*365*2);
 		}
+		 				
+		// Set the cookie name
+		$this->sess_cookie_name = $this->cookie_prefix.$this->sess_cookie_name;
 	
-		/*
-		 *  Fetch the current session
-		 *
-		 * If a session doesn't exist we'll create
-		 * a new one.  If it does, we'll update it.
-		 *
-		 */
+		// Run the Session routine. If a session doesn't exist we'll 
+		// create a new one.  If it does, we'll update it.
 		if ( ! $this->sess_read())
 		{
 			$this->sess_create();
 		}
 		else
 		{	
-			// We only update the session every five minutes
-			if (($this->userdata['last_activity'] + $this->time_to_update) < $this->now)
-			{
-				$this->sess_update();
-			}
+			$this->sess_update();
 		}
 		
-		// Delete expired sessions if necessary
-		if ($this->use_database === TRUE)
-		{		
-			$this->sess_gc();
-		}
-
 		// Delete 'old' flashdata (from last request)
        	$this->_flashdata_sweep();
         
         // Mark all new flashdata as old (data will be deleted before next request)
        	$this->_flashdata_mark();
+
+		// Delete expired sessions if necessary
+		$this->_sess_gc();
+
+		log_message('debug', "Session routines successfully run");
 	}
 	
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -183,28 +128,28 @@
 	function sess_read()
 	{	
 		// Fetch the cookie
-		$session = $this->CI->input->cookie($this->sess_cookie);
+		$session = $this->CI->input->cookie($this->sess_cookie_name);
 		
+		// No cookie?  Goodbye cruel world!...
 		if ($session === FALSE)
 		{
 			log_message('debug', 'A session cookie was not found.');
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 		
-		// Decrypt and unserialize the data
-		if ($this->encryption == TRUE)
+		// Decrypt the cookie data
+		if ($this->sess_encrypt_cookie == TRUE)
 		{
 			$session = $this->CI->encrypt->decode($session);
 		}
 		else
 		{	
 			// encryption was not used, so we need to check the md5 hash
-			$hash = substr($session, strlen($session)-32); // get last 32 chars
+			$hash	 = substr($session, strlen($session)-32); // get last 32 chars
 			$session = substr($session, 0, strlen($session)-32);
 
-			// Does the md5 hash match?  This is to prevent manipulation of session data
-			// in userspace
-			if ($hash !==  md5($session.$this->CI->config->item('encryption_key')))
+			// Does the md5 hash match?  This is to prevent manipulation of session data in userspace
+			if ($hash !==  md5($session.$this->encryption_key))
 			{
 				log_message('error', 'The session cookie data did not match what was expected. This could be a possible hacking attempt.');
 				$this->sess_destroy();
@@ -212,68 +157,75 @@
 			}
 		}
 		
-		$session = @unserialize($this->strip_slashes($session));
+		// Unserialize the session array
+		$session = @unserialize(strip_slashes($session));
 		
-		if ( ! is_array($session) OR ! isset($session['last_activity']))
+		// Is the session data we unserialized and array with the correct format?
+		if ( ! is_array($session) OR ! isset($session['session_id']) OR ! isset($session['ip_address']) OR ! isset($session['user_agent']) OR ! isset($session['last_activity']))
 		{
-			log_message('error', 'The session cookie data did not contain a valid array. This could be a possible hacking attempt.');
+			$this->sess_destroy();
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 		
 		// Is the session current?
-		if (($session['last_activity'] + $this->sess_length) < $this->now)
+		if (($session['last_activity'] + $this->sess_expiration) < $this->now)
 		{
 			$this->sess_destroy();
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 
 		// Does the IP Match?
-		if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_match_ip') == TRUE AND $session['ip_address'] != $this->CI->input->ip_address())
+		if ($this->sess_match_ip == TRUE AND $session['ip_address'] != $this->CI->input->ip_address())
 		{
 			$this->sess_destroy();
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 		
 		// Does the User Agent Match?
-		if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_match_useragent') == TRUE AND trim($session['user_agent']) != trim(substr($this->CI->input->user_agent(), 0, 50)))
+		if ($this->sess_match_useragent == TRUE AND trim($session['user_agent']) != trim(substr($this->CI->input->user_agent(), 0, 50)))
 		{
 			$this->sess_destroy();
 			return FALSE;
 		}
 		
 		// Is there a corresponding session in the DB?
-		if ($this->use_database === TRUE)
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === TRUE)
 		{
 			$this->CI->db->where('session_id', $session['session_id']);
 					
-			if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_match_ip') == TRUE)
+			if ($this->sess_match_ip == TRUE)
 			{
 				$this->CI->db->where('ip_address', $session['ip_address']);
 			}
 
-			if ($this->CI->config->item('sess_match_useragent') == TRUE)
+			if ($this->sess_match_useragent == TRUE)
 			{
 				$this->CI->db->where('user_agent', $session['user_agent']);
 			}
 			
-			$query = $this->CI->db->get($this->session_table);
+			$query = $this->CI->db->get($this->sess_table_name);
 
+			// No result?  Kill it!
 			if ($query->num_rows() == 0)
 			{
 				$this->sess_destroy();
 				return FALSE;
 			}
-			else
+
+			// Is there custom data?  If so, add it to the main session array
+			$row = $query->row();
+			if (isset($row->user_data) AND $row->user_data != '')
 			{
-				$row = $query->row();
-				if (($row->last_activity + $this->sess_length) < $this->now)
+				$custom_data = @unserialize(strip_slashes($row->user_data));
+
+				if (is_array($custom_data))
 				{
-					$this->CI->db->where('session_id', $session['session_id']);
-					$this->CI->db->delete($this->session_table);
-					$this->sess_destroy();
-					return FALSE;
+					foreach ($custom_data as $key => $val)
+					{
+						$session[$key] = $val;
+					}
 				}
-			}
+			}				
 		}
 	
 		// Session is valid!
@@ -286,35 +238,61 @@
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 	
 	/**
-	 * Write the session cookie
+	 * Write the session data
 	 *
 	 * @access	public
 	 * @return	void
 	 */
 	function sess_write()
-	{								
-		$cookie_data = serialize($this->userdata);
-		
-		if ($this->encryption == TRUE)
+	{
+		// Are we saving custom data to the DB?  If not, all we do is update the cookie
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === FALSE)
 		{
-			$cookie_data = $this->CI->encrypt->encode($cookie_data);
+			$this->_set_cookie();
+			return;
+		}
+
+		// We need two copies of the session data array.  One will contain any custom data
+		// that might have been set.  The other will contain the data that will be saved to the cookie
+		$cookie_userdata = $this->userdata;
+		$custom_userdata = $this->userdata;
+
+		// Before continuing, we need to determine if there is any custom data to deal with.
+		// Let's determine this by removing the default indexes to see if there's anything left in the array
+		foreach (array('session_id','ip_address','user_agent','last_activity') as $val)
+		{
+			unset($custom_userdata[$val]);
+		}
+		
+		// Did we find any custom data?  If not, we turn the empty array into a string
+		// since there's no reason to serialize and store an empty array in the DB
+		if (count($custom_userdata) === 0)
+		{
+			$custom_userdata = '';
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			// if encryption is not used, we provide an md5 hash to prevent userside tampering
-			$cookie_data = $cookie_data . md5($cookie_data.$this->CI->config->item('encryption_key'));
+			// Before we serialize the custom data array, let's remove that data from the
+			// main session array since we do not want to save that info to the cookie
+			foreach (array_keys($custom_userdata) as $val)
+			{
+				unset($cookie_userdata[$val]);
+			}
+		
+			// Serialize the custom data array so we can store it
+			$custom_userdata = serialize($custom_userdata);
 		}
+		
+		// Run the update query
+		$this->CI->db->where('session_id', $this->userdata['session_id']);
+		$this->CI->db->update($this->sess_table_name, array('last_activity' => $this->userdata['last_activity'], 'user_data' => $custom_userdata));
 
-		setcookie(
-					$this->sess_cookie,
-					$cookie_data,
-					$this->sess_length + time(),
-					$this->CI->config->item('cookie_path'),
-					$this->CI->config->item('cookie_domain'),
-					0
-				);
+		// Write the cookie.  Notice that we manually pass the cookie data array to the
+		// _set_cookie() function. Normally that function will store $this->userdata, but 
+		// in this case that array contains custom data, which we do not want in the cookie.
+		$this->_set_cookie($cookie_userdata);
 	}
-	
+
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 	
 	/**
@@ -330,6 +308,9 @@
 		{
 			$sessid .= mt_rand(0, mt_getrandmax());
 		}
+		
+		// To make the session ID even more secure we'll combine it with the user's IP
+		$sessid .= $this->CI->input->ip_address();
 	
 		$this->userdata = array(
 							'session_id' 	=> md5(uniqid($sessid, TRUE)),
@@ -339,14 +320,14 @@
 							);
 		
 		
-		// Save the session in the DB if needed
-		if ($this->use_database === TRUE)
+		// Save the data to the DB if needed
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === TRUE)
 		{
-			$this->CI->db->query($this->CI->db->insert_string($this->session_table, $this->userdata));
+			$this->CI->db->query($this->CI->db->insert_string($this->sess_table_name, $this->userdata));
 		}
 			
 		// Write the cookie
-		$this->sess_write();
+		$this->_set_cookie();
 	}
 	
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -358,7 +339,13 @@
 	 * @return	void
 	 */
 	function sess_update()
-	{	
+	{
+		// We only update the session every five minutes by default
+		if (($this->userdata['last_activity'] + $this->sess_time_to_update) >= $this->now)
+		{
+			return;
+		}
+	
 		// Save the old session id so we know which record to 
 		// update in the database if we need it
 		$old_sessid = $this->userdata['session_id'];
@@ -367,20 +354,25 @@
 		{
 			$new_sessid .= mt_rand(0, mt_getrandmax());
 		}
+		
+		// To make the session ID even more secure we'll combine it with the user's IP
+		$new_sessid .= $this->CI->input->ip_address();
+		
+		// Turn it into a hash
 		$new_sessid = md5(uniqid($new_sessid, TRUE));
 		
         // Update the session data in the session data array
 		$this->userdata['session_id'] = $new_sessid;
 		$this->userdata['last_activity'] = $this->now;
 		
-		// Update the session in the DB if needed
-		if ($this->use_database === TRUE)
-		{		
-			$this->CI->db->query($this->CI->db->update_string($this->session_table, array('last_activity' => $this->now, 'session_id' => $new_sessid), array('session_id' => $old_sessid)));
+		// Update the session ID and last_activity field in the DB if needed
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === TRUE)
+		{
+			$this->CI->db->query($this->CI->db->update_string($this->sess_table_name, array('last_activity' => $this->now, 'session_id' => $new_sessid), array('session_id' => $old_sessid)));
 		}
 		
 		// Write the cookie
-		$this->sess_write();
+		$this->_set_cookie();
 	}
 	
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -392,13 +384,21 @@
 	 * @return	void
 	 */
 	function sess_destroy()
-	{
+	{	
+		// Kill the session DB row
+		if ($this->sess_use_database === TRUE AND isset($this->userdata['session_id']))
+		{
+			$this->CI->db->where('session_id', $this->userdata['session_id']);
+			$this->CI->db->delete($this->sess_table_name);
+		}
+	
+		// Kill the cookie
 		setcookie(
-					$this->sess_cookie,
+					$this->sess_cookie_name,
 					addslashes(serialize(array())),
 					($this->now - 31500000),
-					$this->CI->config->item('cookie_path'),
-					$this->CI->config->item('cookie_domain'),
+					$this->cookie_path,
+					$this->cookie_domain,
 					0
 				);
 	}
@@ -406,31 +406,6 @@
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 	
 	/**
-	 * Garbage collection
-	 *
-	 * This deletes expired session rows from database
-	 * if the probability percentage is met
-	 *
-	 * @access	public
-	 * @return	void
-	 */
-	function sess_gc()
-	{
-		srand(time());
-		if ((rand() % 100) < $this->gc_probability)
-		{
-			$expire = $this->now - $this->sess_length;
-			
-			$this->CI->db->where("last_activity < {$expire}");
-			$this->CI->db->delete($this->session_table);
-
-			log_message('debug', 'Session garbage collection performed.');
-		}
-	}
-	
-	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
-	
-	/**
 	 * Fetch a specific item from the session array
 	 *
 	 * @access	public
@@ -509,33 +484,6 @@
 		$this->sess_write();
 	}
 	
-	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
-	
-	/**
-	 * Strip slashes
-	 *
-	 * @access	public
-	 * @param	mixed
-	 * @return	mixed
-	 */
-	function strip_slashes($vals)
-	{
-		if (is_array($vals))
-	 	{	
-	 		foreach ($vals as $key=>$val)
-	 		{
-	 			$vals[$key] = $this->strip_slashes($val);
-	 		}
-	 	}
-	 	else
-	 	{
-	 		$vals = stripslashes($vals);
-	 	}
-	 	
-	 	return $vals;
-	}
-
-	
     // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     /**
@@ -646,6 +594,99 @@
         }
 
     }
+
+	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
+	
+	/**
+	 * Get the "now" time
+	 *
+	 * @access	private
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function _get_time()
+	{
+		if (strtolower($this->time_reference) == 'gmt')
+		{
+			$now = time();
+			$time = mktime(gmdate("H", $now), gmdate("i", $now), gmdate("s", $now), gmdate("m", $now), gmdate("d", $now), gmdate("Y", $now));
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$time = time();
+		}
+	
+		return $time;
+	}
+
+	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
+	
+	/**
+	 * Write the session cookie
+	 *
+	 * @access	public
+	 * @return	void
+	 */
+	function _set_cookie($cookie_data = NULL)
+	{
+		if (is_null($cookie_data))
+		{
+			$cookie_data = $this->userdata;
+		}
+	
+		// Serialize the userdata for the cookie
+		$cookie_data = serialize($cookie_data);
+		
+		if ($this->sess_encrypt_cookie == TRUE)
+		{
+			$cookie_data = $this->CI->encrypt->encode($cookie_data);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			// if encryption is not used, we provide an md5 hash to prevent userside tampering
+			$cookie_data = $cookie_data.md5($cookie_data.$this->encryption_key);
+		}
+		
+		// Set the cookie
+		setcookie(
+					$this->sess_cookie_name,
+					$cookie_data,
+					$this->sess_expiration + time(),
+					$this->cookie_path,
+					$this->cookie_domain,
+					0
+				);
+	}
+
+	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
+	
+	/**
+	 * Garbage collection
+	 *
+	 * This deletes expired session rows from database
+	 * if the probability percentage is met
+	 *
+	 * @access	public
+	 * @return	void
+	 */
+	function _sess_gc()
+	{
+		if ($this->sess_use_database != TRUE)
+		{
+			return;
+		}
+		
+		srand(time());
+		if ((rand() % 100) < $this->gc_probability)
+		{
+			$expire = $this->now - $this->sess_expiration;
+			
+			$this->CI->db->where("last_activity < {$expire}");
+			$this->CI->db->delete($this->sess_table_name);
+
+			log_message('debug', 'Session garbage collection performed.');
+		}
+	}
+
 	
 }
 // END Session Class