Custom widget area mystriosly appears, won't leave
 

I'm in the new version of WP and upgraded to 367 too. The "recent posts" widget now appears above the post headline and below the post in the blog area. But it doen't show in "pages". I've looked at the theme setting and can't find anything out of place. I don't see where a custom widget would be added or deleted.

Link to example? Is the recent posts widget one you placed in the sidebar or is it the default when no widget is added to the sidebar?

It seems to be the default, because I took the widget out and custom widget was still there. So it is independent of the normal "recent post" widget. The regular side bar widget works just fine. www.betterpainting.net

It looks like you don't have the 3.6.7 PATCHES applied Here are the links.

• PATCH 367-01: Odd effects when 'CSS: Compress' = 'Yes'
• PATCH 367-02 is incorporated in PATCH 367-04
• PATCH 367-03: PHP errors when adding widget areas in index.php
• PATCH 367-04: Hovering over a Post/Page title only shows "Permanent Link to"
• PATCH 367-05: Site Title appended after the 'WordPress SEO by Yoast' title

when you took it out of where? be specific. If you took it out of the left sidebar, indicate that.

if you go to ato->Add new WIDGET AREAS do any check boxes show in the 'Delete custom Widget Areas' area?

"when you took it out of where? be specific. If you took it out of the left sidebar, indicate that.

if you go to ato->Add new WIDGET AREAS do any check boxes show in the 'Delete custom Widget Areas' area?"

I took it out of the right side bar and put it the available widgets area but could not get it to the inactive widgets area.
I unchecked the "custom tax" check box in ato widgets area, but it didn't help. I have a link to "delete checked widet areas" but no boxes or circles to check. It gives me an error message about it being an "invalid arguement".

Here is what I see:
Delete custom Widget Areas
1) Delete the <?php bfa_widget_area(...) ?> code from whichever text area here in the theme options you placed it in.
2) Select the widget areas that you want to delete and click the link below.
Note: The widget areas will be re-created until you deleted its associated code (see step 1).

Delete checked Widget Areas

As stated, there is nothing to check, and I didn't put the code anywhere. Maybe it grew legs and walked there itself.

Also...Updating patches
I loaded the functions.php to my web host, unzipped it, now there is a functions file there and the zip box and the orginal functions.php file with the php bucket. What now?

And why is this so difficult?

The first thing you need to do is get all the patches installed. Go to the links as noted, download the files, unzip the files, and upload to the locations mentioned for each individual patch.

Also it sound like you might not be familiar with WordPress areas such as active and inactive widget areas. You move items from active widgets the the sidebar of choice and if you have a widget in one of the widget areas and want to take it out temporarily you drag it to the inactive widget area. You never drag from active to inactive.