Sure you can. But... you will have to make sure that your program also compiles with MSVC since your TA will check your project using that compiler. Also, you will receive no help from TAs for issues associated with that compiler (basically, you are on your own when dealing with the compiler).
Short answer: NO Long answer: No since we will be using ANSI C++ standard so if the compiler is ANSI compliant it will work (theoretically) the same under all ANSI compilers.
No because 2nd edition is fairly old and does not incorporate a lot of things that are in ANSI standard and are in 3rd edition of the book.
Solutions manual solves problems from the textbook and goes into detail about the solutions. It is extremely useful but not necessary. Decide on your own if it's worth the money.
Your TA handles assignment questions.
No... you can do them on your own if you want.
No. Assignments are meant to be individual work and copied assignments will not be tolerated.