Using WP as a CMS

Instead of using WP as a blog software, I wanted to use it as a CMS for my site.

I have a few concerns now, after setting up my website.
When new users register, they never get a password (I tested this myself as well). Is there anyway to let them choose their own password so they can login right away?

I want every member to have the ability to post content up, so I set WP up so that they ‘May submit drafts for review’. This didn’t work as I thought it would. Instead of it alerting me that there is a new draft waiting for approval, it just lists it as “someone elses drafts”. But that’s only if they choose to save it as a draft. They also have the option of saving it as a private entry, which means I have no way of knowing it’s there. This is not good of course. Is there anyway to set it up so they can submit content, and another page shows me what pieces are in draft mode? and possibly not letting them save as ‘private’.

Since the control panel will be viewed by everyone who joins (granted they get a password, see first question), I realize the skin and features are not like my site at all (obviously). When users login, they are greeted with a completely different skin, and lots of wordpress news at the bottom. Is there a way for me to have the same skin as my homepage, on the control panel? And possibly get rid of the wordpress news?

I know this would require a lot of hacking, which would be expected.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Deat