Photoshop :: Wacom Pen Tablet Issues In CS4

Well, I just hooked up my old Bamboo tablet (the medium size) and downloaded
the new drivers. The reports of issues with the pen tablet are well founded.
For me I have several issues...

1. If you press to hard on the pen you get this animated ring and then a
brush adjustment dialog pops up. I hate this thing but can't figure out how
to turn it off. If this is supposed to be useful it isn't at least not for
me, it is so annoying. I don't know if this is a Photoshop thing or a Wacom
thing but I hate it. If anyone knows of a way to turn this off please let me
know.

2. The brush is very choppy when you are painting, etc. What I have noticed
however is that as you paint even if you never pull the pen from the tablet
surface Photoshop is creating dozens of history states as it does this
Photoshop must be doing something with memory or scratch space because it is
during the rapid creation of history states that it causes the pen to pause
making it seem choppy. I have no idea why Adobe would set it up this way.
When I create a single stroke no matter how much area I cover that should be
one history state and not dozens.