Some minor Studio XPS 1640 problems

I ordered my computer during boxing week and received it a few weeks ago. I'm really enjoying it so far, but there are some very minor issues with it, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've read about the hard drive noise problem in this forum. I'm not entirely sure if I have it. I had to put my ear up to the laptop to hear it at first, but now I can recognize the sound at normal working distance, as long as the room is quiet enough. I've listened to the clip that was posted in the main thread concerning this noise and it sounds similar, although instead of a clap sound it sounds more like the 'tick tock' sounds coming from a clock. The sounds haven't been accompanied by the mini-freezes though. Perhaps I'm simply hearing normal sounds and worrying too much?

When I plug in the AC adapter into my computer, I must wait a few seconds before booting it up. Otherwise the sound doesn't work properly (programs will freeze if a sound is played). I don't use the battery by the way, it's never plugged in. Does anyone else have this issue?

How do I know if my computer needs a laptop cooler?

This is my first time using Windows 7, so I have no idea if it's a problem with the OS or the computer. My caps lock key minimizes me out of full screen games. Is there a way to fix this issue? Don't worry, I'm not a spammer online, I simply have the key bound to Ventrilo.

Since caps lock was giving me issues, I decided to experiment with other keys to bind to Ventrilo. This was when I ran into another issue: certain keys (like [ ' and = ) can't be bound. It gets stranger. If I try to bind the ] key, the Ventrilo tells me I've actually bound the [ key. And if I try to bind the \ key, it tells me I've bound the ] key. I experimented with other programs and games and realized that all of them had the same issues. Anyone have similar experiences/solutions?
*edit* these keys can be bound if Direct Input is turned off

One last thing: this laptop made me realize how greasy my seemingly clean fingers are. Anyone have tips to cleaning the keyboard? There's also the mesh-cover on the speakers with tiny dust particles stuck in the mesh. I don't want to put my computer up to a vacuum cleaner, so how do I get them out?