Unfortunately, I can help with the last question only...

You can access the archive by clicking on the "archive" link just the current list of topics...
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showforum.php?archive=12366

You can then set a date range... like Jan 01 1995 till March 01 2010 and you'll get all past topics.

When using the forum search, it will search the archives as well...
As long as you set a sufficient time range... like newer than 5,000 days 

Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.