1a) Pretty sure you can remove the necessity of dialing an ID.

1b)Sounds corrupt. Did you do a complete uninstall of the UC software before upgrading it?

2) See 1b and if you are having issues you can have the system refresh on a schedule. Resync has to be done manually (or on a scheduled re-boot) per your NEC training.

3) All different things that do different tasks. UC Suite is presence and call control (the PC program has a LOT more that it can do).

I suggest getting certified or if not possible get a tech that can work on it.