Should students have a copy of the exact power point slides to take note on, or will that make them pay less attention?

My class was having trouble focusing, and people were chatting a lot. Some students complained that they were being distracted. I decied to assign seats, and the class has become better behaved. Was this a good idea, or am I treating them like kids?

My fellow instructors use facebook to communicate with their classes, but I don't. I don't like seeing them and their pictures in that environment. Am I wrong and behind the times on this matter, or should I just sign up and start using this venue to communicate and monitor my students?

Our classroom is small and we have a lot of students. Since they have to sit closely together, I think that it would be easy to cheat. What is the best way to arrange the seats for exams?

Some of my students are constantly chatting in class. If they disturb me or others, I put a stop to it. Because they are in the back of the room in a large class, sometimes their behavior goes unnoticed by me. Their classmates often 'shhh' them or otherwise reprimand them on their own. Is it ok for me to let students regulate themselves like this, or will it cause animosity and other problems between them later on?

Almost all of our courses have a premade power point presentations to go along with the lectures. We are able to modify the slides if we feel it is necessary. How much information should be on one slide in the form of text, and should all slides have a picture or graphic? Thanks for your help!

I am starting to teach a class that has been together for over a year. They all know each other already. I intoduced myself on the first day, and then asked them if they had any questions about me. They did, and we spoke to long about me and my life. Was it a mistake to ask them if they had any questions about me? Should I just have introduced myself, and moved on?

I'm lucky because my students are very interested in most of the material that we cover in our courses. However, sometimes we have to limit the level of detail that we can go into on certain topics. At times, we go off on tangents and class ends before I can finish everything in my lesson plan for the day. How can I curtail these sidetracks without hurting their enthusiasm? All the info that we discuss I would like them to know, but there's too much to talk about, and not enough time in the day! Thanks, Jeremy