OOM –
For the issue of the chrome pop-up, it only shows up when you aren’t using Chrome. Even if you have chrome installed it will show up if you aren’t using it. If you want you can try to set your home page to http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=com which some people have said doesn’t display it for them. (I wasn’t able to replicate it but I almost exclusively use chrome so its not a big deal for me.)
For the Gmail “doesn’t fit on my screen nicely” problem – did you try adjusting the display density of Gmail?
To adjust this, just follow these steps:
Click the gear icon at the top right corner of your inbox. (Not the one in your navigation bar, the one right on top of the inbox.)
Choose from Comfortable (least dense), Cozy, and Compact (densest).
As for the nav bar – Google is in a big process of giving a make-over to all their sites. One of the advantages of the make-over will be that the sites will be consistent with one another. While in the process you will see some sites with the updated nav bar and some without. This shouldn’t be an issue when all is said and done.
As for the safe search – as you have found out, it’s because of your filter. It’s not an account setting, but rather a cookie setting that Jnet can enforce.
Hope this helps