Ubuntu :: Stop Apps From Stealing Window Focus?

I have found a couple of posts complaining about this problem but none offering solutions. In a nutshell, I want to prevent ALL programs from creating new windows that steal the keyboard focus away from whatever window I was just using. The most common offender is Synaptic when running updates/installs. I will be typing an email, playing a game, whatever, and all of a sudden a new window will pop up, steal focus, and if I'm not paying enough attention, whatever I'm typing will interact with it and cancel something or say yes to something before I even realize it. Another really bad offender is Firefox with the dialogs to accept cookies or entering/leaving a secure website. I still want all of those dialog boxes to appear but I don't want them to automatically steal focus from my other applications. Another user suggested having them blink in the task bar and I like that well enough if it is possible.

Is there a way to lock the focus to the active program/window unless the end user switches it away (i.e. no stealing)?

One post said something about window rules but gave no details. A lot of posts talk about the mouse cursor position selecting the window option (which I do not want and would not fix this problem anyway). One post said it was fixed in Feisty (guess it came back...)