updated to 3.93 and hoped that the issues with relative images sources would be over!

and its not !

I uninstalled artio, and installed a fresh copy of 3.93 and with default values, my relative images disappeared

WHAT in the world could be causing this!

I've never had a problem with an update until 3.91 something new with that updated broke my ability to use the software !

SOLVED the issue

the "System - SEF" plugin was off, turning that on fixed my relative links issues!!!

I have the same problem after updating JoomSEF and I am not sure where the setting is you are talking about... would you be willing to troubleshoot my site?

go to plugins and search for "SEF"

make sure the system plugin "System - SEF" is enabled, thats what fixed it for me.