I want to disable intermittent pop-ups

Hello emacs world,

I started using a new windows8 laptop recently.

I'm running emacs 3 different ways:
  - emacs directly from windows
  - emacs from cygwin
  - emacs running on Linux displayed in X running from cygwin

(I'm using Emacs 23.x.x on each).

Each of these 3 ways has bumped me into some annoying emacs behavior
related to pop-up menus.

Important point:
I CAN'T REPRODUCE THE BEHAVIOR AT-WILL BUT I SEE IT FREQUENTLY.

Here is the description:

I am editing some text.

I type ctrl-something-or other.

Usually it works like I expect.

Once in awhile an annoying pop-up menu appears.

Usually the menu shows a list of buffers.

Sometimes I'll see other things in it.

I work-around it easily; I press Esc and it disappears.

This might be related some kind of windows keyboard-mouse "feature".

Also it might be related to accidental brushes of the touch pad.

I see this bad-behavior only on my windows8 laptop.

Perhaps the easiest fix would be to completely disable pop-up windows.

Question: How do I completely disable pop-up windows?