user authentic.+sessions: php4/mysql WITHOUT apache-Module

I have a table user with a username and password field. Using php4 do I still need php as apache-module for user authentication? header() dont work in ie5 so I want to use a form asking for username and password, which are then comopared to the entries in the users table. If there is a match a cookie should be set or the values be passed with hidden fields to the next form? Could that work? Thanks for another light. Helmut