/**
 * instantiates a new xmlhttprequest object
 *
 * @return xmlhttprequest object or false
 */
    var xmlHttp = false;

    try{
        if( window.ActiveXObject ){
            for( var i = 5; i; i-- ){
                try{
                    if( i == 2 ){
                        xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject( "Microsoft.XMLHTTP" );    
                    }else{
                      xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject( "Msxml2.XMLHTTP." + i + ".0" );
                    }
                    break;
                }
                catch( excNotLoadable ){                        
                    xmlHttp = false;
                }
            }
        }else if( window.XMLHttpRequest ){
            xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
        }
    }
    catch( excNotLoadable ){
        xmlHttp = false;
    }