Well Kreelor you wanted an answer, so here it is.
There is only
one place that I've found that will let you turn the quest giver icons on and off in Carbonite. Now, that doesn't mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that there is only one place, it means that I've only
found one place to turn the icons on and off. That one place is the Quest Watch header. That means you have to have the Carbonite Quests module installed and active to turn the quest giver icons on and off.
On.
Off.
Sorry 'bout the way this post sounds, Kreelor, but it's after 1 AM here. W - A - Y past my bed time. Sux to get old.