This is my last resort.  I have had it!  All it takes is a touch of my cursor and my IE toolbar (ALSO when I go to my favorites menu) lights up with text boxes popping up like cheap popcorn in a WalMart MICROWAVE.  The slight delay of these uninformative boxes makes me MADDER.  Just to clarify, when I place my cursor on my favorites star, a text box languidly blasts, "favorites."  Well, my favorites star already says favorites.  Please help me get rid of these boxes.

Also, I do wonder if I goofed somewhere down the line (probable) or is this the default setting?  I don't know which is worse.  Please respond if this feature annoys you too.When did all this start ?
What operating system are you using .....?
I could be wrong , but I believe the issue you are refering to is by design .........
and no it doesnt bother me , in fact I rarely leave the cursor on any of them unless I intended to use that function

dl65  Google "TweakUI for Windows XP".  Download it - it's a Microsoft-designed "Powertoy".  You can use it tweak a variety of settings, including the delay time before these "tooltips" popup, etc.  I think you'll probably find some settings that you can live with.Curvesmasher, as a dear UNCLE of mine used to say when responding to such "serious" matters, "goodness sakes alive".  Yep, this is one those "goodness sakes alive" situations.  LOL.  

Have long have you been using Windows?  Have you never used any other Windows computers besides the one to which you're referring here?  And, you don't know that the popup boxes are a standard/default feature?  

Nevertheless, since you find them annoying, robpomeroy offered a good solution.