WD, You can familiarize yourself with TWS with this online demo: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/tws/demo2.html It is identical to the software you will use to trade through IB, except the quotes are delayed 15 minutes and every session you start with a 50k account to blow up! If you give a third party application (such as bracket trader) a try you can (and probably should!) use the demo until you get the hang of things.
Forget it, it's one of the most expensive things on the market. You don't need it. Get SierraChart, $40 for 6 months, it gives you enough indicators and the data is free if you use IB as a data feed. You need a sound strategy and not an overpriced data and charting software.
wally, I disagree. But everyone has their own spin on things so that's cool. eSignal is $79 a month if you sign up for the year and includes a decent news feed, many top charting features, quote windows to monitor 100 stocks or more if you need that, etc., etc., etc. If you need less, all the power to you. Sounds like you have an okay setup. But everyone trades differently. And I don't trade with IB. I think eSignal is a big time bargain for what you get and the feed is very reliable.