POST'd data not being assigned as variables?

Hello all, I have a simple php that has a few form fields, which apon submission are POST'ed to a php script.. problem is that the variables are not being set on the script. Even if you do ".../register.php?user=bla" the var $user never gets set, you have to do '$user=$HTTP_GET_VARS['user'];' to get it to set it.. whats going on? This worked fine under php4.1.x, but now does not work after I upgraded to 4.2.1.. something change? Thanks, Tim PS: Heres the form code.. <HTML> Please fill out the following form:<br> <FORM action="register.php" method="post"> <br> <p> Name<br> <input type="text" name=user><br> </p> <input type=submit value="Submit"> </form> </HTML>