@hobodactyl Have you considered joining the #blender and #blendercoders channel on irc.freenode.net? Thats the best place to get answers and the developers will actively work to help find a solution if none exists. Also a good place to jump into helping with the development of Blender.
To get rid of a window, drag back in the opposite direction you would when you create it. An arrow should appear, and you should release the LMB. Painting is the thing I know the least about, but I might be able to help you out. -I'm not sure exactly what you mean with unified brush strength and size (proportional to each…