How to stop the "Look at me!" browser windows.

Factual Questions
1

Let’s say I’m loading up the SDMB. While waiting for the hamsters to kick it into overdrive, I open a second browser window to ESPN.com to check last night’s baseball scores. Then while that’s loading, I switch back to the board just in time to see it come up. I go to click on Great Debates, but as I do so, ESPN finishes loading and, like a flash, interpolates itself in front of the SDMB, causing me to click on, say, a really annoying ESPN promotional link that spawns untold pop-ups.

My question: it seems like more and more web pages cause their browser windows to display them front and center on the computer after they’ve finished loading. It used to be that I could be loading five different things in five different windows, and get to each in my own good time. Now I have to constantly be on the look-out while multitasking for the errant click caused by a newly loaded webpage popping up.

Is there anything I can do with my browser choice and/or preferences that will combat this?

2

Turn off javascript.

3

I believe this may be something within Windows rather than IE specifically. If you download tweak software (e.g. TweakUI or TweakAll) you can theoretically prevent this behaviour - for example, in TweakUI for Windows XP there is a “Focus” section under “General” that includes the option “Prevent applications from stealing focus” (flashing the taskbar button rather than bringing the window ‘front and centre’).