That Anoying Pop-Up Box: What is a 'Favicon'? From Whence does it Come?

Thanks to all who have been in contact for the messages of support! I am not entirely 'back' yet – not yet firing on both barrels – but I think I'm on the road to recovery. At least I have been able to summon up enough enthusiasm to play around with the idea of a redesign for the cover of INSTITUTIONALISED Vol 1. I'll be the first to admit that the layout of these two early offerings are somewhat... how should we say?... crap! (Perhaps 'confused' would be a kind comment) But at least I'm making a start.

In case anyone out there is wondering, by the way: Yes I was on antidepressants many years ago (early 80s and early – mid 90s) but they didn't ever seem to do anything other than give me a dry mouth and, on occasion, an upset stomach. The last time I got really bad -
back in 2001 when my dad was busy dying and I was trying to stagger on with my PhD (I had just lost my gran,too) - I discovered that (apart from beer) the herb, St Johns wort, seemed to help, albeit at several times the recommended dose! I usually fall back on the ale but booze is not really an option this time; indeed, I fear I may have already damaged my nervous system. Certainly there are hints of alcoholic peripheral neuropathy.

Now: If you are finding you are encountering pop-up box popping demanding some sort of password please ignore it. it is not of my making and I don't know where it has come from. You can close the box by clicking on the 'X' in the top right hand corner as you would any other dialogue box and then proceed as normal to read the blog, leave comments or whatever. Unfortunately this 'password box sometimes opens again, but it does so a maximum of 3 times. So if you find yourself obliged to close it again, please have patience and do so in the same manner, while taking comfort in the fact that the third time is always lucky in this case. But I have to admit that it really is annoying nonetheless!

The trouble is, I am at present unsure as to how to get rid of the bloody thing. As far as I can gather it is due to the author of one of the blogs that my blog houses a link to having set up some sort of 'hotlink' to something or other called a 'Favicon' whatever that is – I fervently wish he or she hadn't!

Something similar has happened before. But the last time it occurred it did so immediately following my having added a couple of blogs to my 'bog role' and so was easy to track down. Then it proved to have something to do with certain of the 'Thumbloger' blogs I had added - which is why all the 'Thumbloger' blogs are now listed in their own section of the sidebar, in a manner that allows no direct link back which is why there is no mention of their latest update nor any thumbnail, logo or what have you - as one might ordinarily expect to see in a conventional 'blog role'. On this occasion, though, there are few clues as to this annoyance's origination. This time it just seems to have manifested from thin air;; certainly I have added no new blogs to my blog role for very many
months. Because of the latter I am at a loss as to how to track down the culprit... any ideas out there?