page query variable get ignored

I just updated my site to 3.4.

One of my plugins was using query strings. One of which being page.

http://www.mysite.com?bla=bla&page=2

In 3.4 it gets converted to

http://www.mysite.com/2/?bla=bla

1. is my only solution to change the name of my query variable from page to something else.

2. Is there any good tutorials out there on how I can turn all my query variable into pretty permalinks?

Thanks