I gave up fighting with the annoying taskbar "jack-in-the-box" popups, so I threw my taskbar to the top of the screen where my mouse rarely goes anyway. Here's how:
Taskbar - Move Location on Desktop Screen
1. right-click the taskbar
2. click "Properties" from the menu
3. from the "Taskbar location on screen" drop-down menu, choose "Top"
4. click "Apply"
5. click "OK"
Now, with the taskbar at the top of the screen, "popups" will only drop downward ("popdowns"). And you have to go out of your way to reach them at the top of the screen.
Yeah, yeah, it looks strange, but I'm liking it better than the frequent, accidental mouse-overs near the bottom of my screen.