... Ok il take a stab at this:

1: This isnt a localised case most people suffer from this but consider the following quote
The file copy was a backward step.

And in some ways a forward step also. Previously in XP they had the same file copy method as older versions of windows. Quite often I have to copy huge numbers of files around, sometimes in the 10,000's, multigigabyte copying from HD to HD, and if XP had a problem copying just the one file it used to stop the entire transfer process. Vista will now report an error copying a file or folder but then continue with the next file or folder, a vast improvement. The actual file name being copied was rarely important since they flashed by faster than could be read with small files, the stopping right in t he middle of a huge copy was maddening!
2: Depending on your PC vista will turn on and off aero to improve memory usage, im not sure why your having the problem you are but usually if an app is memory intensive vista will turn aero off.

3:Reinstall

4unno, never used it

5:See 3 although it could be a settings issue

6: This is based on your file prefrences, right click to change sort order, this is the same on my XP machine.

7: on the toolbar you should see a button to increase the distance and size of your icons its called "views" and has a slider.

Hope that helps a bit.