As a totally non-technical person myself, Boris, I'm not sure whether I should even
attempt to try and help!!
I do think, though, that what you saw was just one of those annoying "pop-up" windows which you should just close immediately or ignore and close later when you've come out of the site.
A really good site for smilies is
http://www.plauder-smilies.com/
It's also really easy to use. Click on the smiley you want and when its URL appears highlighted below, copy it using the right mouse button and paste it in the same way into your TiBB post.
Once you've become an expert, you can have a go at some of the other "smiley" sites. There's quite a few but the plauder one is definitely the easiest to use, IMHO.
BTW, I usually have both sites open at once but keep whichever one I'm not using at the time minimalised.
Hope this helps. If not, wait for LEE!!!