"global" AND Register Globals with PHP 4.0.6 ??

Hello, I need to access the "$HTTP_GET_VARS" and "$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS" arrays within a function. In order to do this I have to pass $HTTP_GET_VARS as a parameter of the function. How can I access these built-in arrays without passing it as a function parameter. Should I define them as a "global" variable. I read that "register globals" has some security issues. Are these the same, or is setting a variable as "global" and "register globals" different? NOTE: I am using PHP 4.0.6. Thanks for any assistance. :-) John Negretti Web Applications Developer Cox Communications www.cox.com