the symbol is CL and the spot month is the front month for all futures, if I am not mistaken. I had the same question when I started and nobody could give me an answer. The front month is also the most liquid contract available in almost all cases. (+/- 94%)
I never used it. There are many oil spot index: http://www.wtrg.com/daily/oilandgasspot.html but I think the main one is WTI, so the symbol is WTI and select index in the list.