Disabling notifications - I will pay for a working solution!

[sbddude]

Here's my problem: when I receive an email or SMS my phone vibrates, the orange light flashes, and I get a "notification" popup message and the left softkey on the today screen turns into "Notification". My desired behavior is that when I receive a message, the phone will vibrate, and the orange light will flash only. I don't want to have to dismiss each message.

I have already tried using spb phone, phone alarm, searching the registry and of course the notification settings. I cannot get the left softkey change to go away!

If anyone can provide a working solution, I will pay $10 to your paypal.