Ctrl and Alt popups on Windows 10 - PS CC 2018 - Wacom Intuos Pro L

Hi guys,

I have run out of things to try.

I have read every single piece advice on the web regarding this incessant problem and still unable to solve it.  I have come from Windows 8.1 and Photoshop CS6, which I have run for years without a problem.  The wacom was fast, everything responsive and the pen could be used...well, as a pen.  I have now bought a brand new machine, with a new install of Windows 10 and decided to buy into the Adobe cloud and get the latest PS.  Now I'm siting here in awe that this problem even exists for so long without a reliable solution.

I'm talking about the little "ALT" and "CTRL" helper pop-ups that appear on-screen wherever your cursor is when you activate that keyboard modifier.  I have ALT bound to my pen switch as I do a lot of retouching with the healing brush so need to constantly pick a new area, which is holding ALT and tapping.  Now, I am pained by the ridiculous on/off flickering off the "ALT" text under my cursor every time I do this function.  Driving me insane.

What I have tried:

- Installed the text file PSUserConifig.txt with "UseSystemStylus 0" in it.

- Turned off "Use Windows Ink" under the Pen mapping tool both for the Photoshop app and also in "All Other" apps using the Wacom preferences.

- Made the GPEDIT that disabled Windows Ink altogether

Many reboots and even different combination of the three above...nothing kills the ALT pop-up.

Observations:

The ALT-popup (it happens with CTRL and SHIFT as well, but I'll just refer to it as ALT-Popup) happens even when I have the pen near the tablet and press ALT on the keyboard.

It happens in any application, even after a fresh reboot just hovering the pen on the desktop.

Photoshop doesn't seem to turn it off as people have claimed with CC 2015.

Most of  what I have read refers to Windows 10 and PS CC 2015, so I'm wanting to see if anyone has a solid fix for this under CC 2018+Win10?  With so many Wacom artists out there, I can't believe there isn't a reliable answer to this.    Any help would be IMMENSELY appreciated.