[Evolution] Making notification box go away

[George Reeke <reeke mail rockefeller edu>]

Dear colleagues,
   [I have evol 2.12.3 on a RedHat EL 5 smp 64-bit system]
   Recently evolution started popping up a notification box
when mail is received.  I don't want this because I only get
email by clicking the Send/Receive button.
   I read the archives but I still can't get rid of it.
Long version:
   I ticked "Do not notify me when new mail arrives" in Mail
Preferences (it was already ticked) and this did nothing.
(The other two options also had no effect when tested.)
I also ran the gconf (gnome configuration) editor and unticked
"blink-status-icon" and "notification" in apps->evolution->mail->
notification, logged out and in again, and the next time I got
mail, that box still popped up.
   I finally got rid of it by going in as root to
/usr/libexec/evolution/2.12 and removing the executable bits
from the program evolution-alarm-notify.  But I doubt this is
the approved way to do it.
   I saw an item in the archives to uncheck "Mail notification"
and "New mail notification" in the Edit->Plugins menu, which I
had not previously noticed.  I did this and the notifications
stopped.  But after exiting evolution and starting it again,
these boxes magically rechecked themselves.  Now an icon
appears on my screen when I get new mail, although without
the big popup (presumably because of the executable bits I
cleared).  Checking with ps indicates this icon is probably
/usr/libexec/notification-area-applet, which I hesitate to
get rid of because it may be the mechanism that provides
RedHat patch popups.
   Did I miss something somewhere?  What is the official way
to turn off this notification box?  Why do none of the three
preference options work?  Is there a configuration file
somewhere that I can edit manually to clean up some option
that is SNAFU?  Is this a bug in 2.12.3 or an ongoing problem?
   Developers:  I will put in an enhancement request that
all three ways to express this preference should actually
work, unless somebody tells me it as already been fixed in
later releases.
(I cannot upgrade because of RedHat conflicts.)
   Thanks,
George Reeke, Ph.D.
Head, Laboratory of Biological Modelling
The Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue
New York, NY  10065
email:  reeke rockefeller edu