1) How can I start earning BitCoins?
If you have a Radeon graphics card of the HD 4000 series or later, or a recent GeForce, then you may want to try making bitcoins with it.
I tried to make this as simple as possible for newcomers on my site
http://bitminter.com. Easy to use graphical interface, no cryptic command-line options. And no installation beyond Java, which you probably already have. Just click the "engine start" button on the website after you have signed up.