Is there a way to force a browser to recognize my favicon?
Favicons named favicon.ico should be recognized automatically. As an additional safeguard, though, you may wish to add the following code (shaded purple for clarity in the example below) into every page’s head section:
Note the / before favicon.ico. New favicons may not show up if Internet Explorer’s cache of temporary Internet files is bloated, even if the cached files do not exceed the preset limit. The cure is simple: just clear your cache periodically (it is advisable to do this for other reasons, too). To clear the cache, start Internet Explorer, then select TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS. In the Temporary Internet files box, press the DELETE FILES button.