>>But do you know how I stop new windows (specifically after I use the Google text box to search) from overlaying one of my open tabs?

>>Always click on links with the wheel so each link opens in a new tab.
>
>The better way is to download Tabbrowser preferences extension.


Playing with the new final 1.0 release (just installed) I see there's a new section in the options dialog that allows you to control
some tab behavior. You can tell it that when another application tells it to open a new page, that page should appear in a
new tab in the current window.

See Tools|Options|Advanced|Tabbed Browsing