Voting Question: Need help with plugins for my wordpress blog!?

I need some help with my wordpress plugins on my blog. Right now, wordpress emails an auto generated password. I have theme my login and register plus on my blog. How can I change one of them so that users make their own passwords.

Also I want to make an easy access text box for users to post their own topics much like a forum. Is there a plugin for that?
I got the first question solved via just messing around. I still need to find a way to make it easier for users to post!! HELPP