The link cannot be disabled. But, you won't click it by mistake when 'Object panel' or 'Material panel' is docked at the right in the window.

True, docking on the right will move those icons.  Unfortunately, I really hate the object panel wasting so much screen space.  My normal work flow is to place all the panels on the left along with the controls since I am a heavy mouse user.

Thank you for the prompt reply.  It looks like I will have some un-learning to do with Meta4. :-)