I apologize beforehand if it was addressed previously. Attempted to search but was unable to locate an answer.

I have 2 questions.

1. I deleted standard preinstalled news categories. Created new ones I needed. Now when I post a news article, I end up with my avatar picture besides the article posted instead of the image chosen for the news category. Is there a way t  change this?

2. I noticed this social sharing bar below the content of the topics, news (the one with a facebook and printer icon in it) contains a Facebook Like button. What do I need t change to replace standard FB button with the one with a counter?

Thank you
Any help would be appreciated.

Does this fix your issue 1?

themes/default/templates/NEWS_BOX.tpl

I think it's a bug when the authors addon is not installed.

As for the 2nd issue, I think you have that backwards. By default we have a share button, and you want a like button.
For that you need to install and configure the facebook_support addon, or hand configure your own facebook integration into the BLOCK_MAIN_SCREEN_ACTIONS template.

Thank you very much. That really helped.