diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 3a4f87a..e5303a8 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
   ],
   "require": {
     "php": ">=5.5.0",
+    "ext-iconv": "*",
+    "ext-mbstring": "*",
     "guzzlehttp/guzzle": ">=6.0",
     "illuminate/container": ">=4.2.0",
     "illuminate/support": ">=4.2.0",
diff --git a/src/Configuration.php b/src/Configuration.php
index b4ab312..22c246a 100644
--- a/src/Configuration.php
+++ b/src/Configuration.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class Configuration
     protected $http_authentication = 'digest';
     /** @var \PHRETS\Strategies\Strategy */
     protected $strategy;
+    protected $sessionTempDir = null;
     protected $options = [];
 
     public function __construct()
@@ -135,6 +136,24 @@ public function setUsername($username)
         return $this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param string $username
+     * @return $this
+     */
+    public function setSessionTempDir($sessionTempDir)
+    {
+        $this->sessionTempdDir = $sessionTempDir;
+        return $this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return mixed
+     */
+    public function getSessionTempDir()
+    {
+        return $this->sessionTempDir;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param $name
      * @param $value
@@ -240,7 +259,7 @@ public function userAgentDigestHash(Session $session)
      */
     public function setHttpAuthenticationMethod($auth_method)
     {
-        if (!in_array($auth_method, [self::AUTH_BASIC, self::AUTH_DIGEST])) {
+        if ($auth_method && !in_array($auth_method, [self::AUTH_BASIC, self::AUTH_DIGEST])) {
             throw new \InvalidArgumentException("Given authentication method is invalid.  Must be 'basic' or 'digest'");
         }
         $this->http_authentication = $auth_method;
diff --git a/src/Parsers/XML.php b/src/Parsers/XML.php
index 7309ca1..257d8d1 100644
--- a/src/Parsers/XML.php
+++ b/src/Parsers/XML.php
@@ -11,6 +11,20 @@ public function parse($string)
             $string = $string->getBody()->__toString();
         }
 
-        return new \SimpleXMLElement((string) $string);
+        $string = (string) $string;
+
+        /**
+         * Some rets provider(s) return invalid XML data.
+         * Here we make sure the returned data are UTF-8 valid chars.
+         * I've seen so far:
+         *  - windows carriage return (^M at the end of each lines)
+         *  - trade mark sign not converted to ™ and I guess we can have other sigh like this.
+         *
+         * NOTE:
+         *  //IGNORE will discard the invalid UTF-8 chars.
+         */
+        $string = iconv(mb_detect_encoding($string), 'UTF-8//IGNORE', $string);
+
+        return new \SimpleXMLElement($string);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Session.php b/src/Session.php
index a99d319..bc18c50 100644
--- a/src/Session.php
+++ b/src/Session.php
@@ -375,6 +375,8 @@ protected function request($capability, $options = [], $is_retry = false)
 
         $response = new \PHRETS\Http\Response($response);
 
+        $this->removeSessionCookieFile($options);
+
         $this->last_response = $response;
 
         if ($response->getHeader('Set-Cookie')) {
@@ -543,7 +545,7 @@ public function getDefaultOptions()
                 'Accept-Encoding' => 'gzip',
                 'Accept' => '*/*',
             ],
-            'curl' => [ CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE => tempnam('/tmp', 'phrets') ]
+            'curl' => [ CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE => tempnam($this->configuration->getSessionTempDir(), 'phrets') ]
         ];
 
         // disable following 'Location' header (redirects) automatically
@@ -554,6 +556,21 @@ public function getDefaultOptions()
         return $defaults;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * If the session cookie file have beend created, we will remove it.
+     *
+     * @param array $options Assoc array that came from the method getDefaultOptions.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    private function removeSessionCookieFile(array $options)
+    {
+        $tmpFile = $options['curl'][CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE];
+        if (file_exists($tmpFile)) {
+            unlink($tmpFile);
+        }
+    }
+
     public function setParser($parser_name, $parser_object)
     {
         /** @var Container $container */