How do I turn off the little CTRL-SHIFT bubble that pops up on Windows 7 around my cursor?

If disabling TabletInputService doesn't work for you try the following :

Type "gpedit.msc" in the command line window and press enter.

Now, at the new window that opens, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Tablet PC > Cursor.

Now enable the Turn off pen feedback setting. Yes - you have to enable it to disable it. Then they'll disappear.

This may be of use to anyone using Visual Studio 2010 which seems to want to reenable the bubbles for some reason!

What it looks like it is doing is displaying the tooltips for whatever is around your curser when you press one of those buttons. Seeing you cannot 'hover' using a pen tablet, Windows 7 (and I think Vista as well) has a 'handy' 'function' that enables you to view tooltips. It does not appear as if you can turn these off.

However, there is a bit of a work around, according to a Windows forum:

One way to disable it is to go to the Wacom Tablet Properties control panel applet, select the Mapping tab, and select the "Mouse" mode. However, this will also disable the tablet PC supports (e.g. pen flick, tablet input panel tip appears next to textbox etc).

Just had this issue with my Wacom Bamboo.

Open Wacom Preferences Go to Pen tab Click Mapping button under the Tracking section Deselect the check box at the bottom that says: Use Windows Ink