1. No, this is the best way to do things, so Backup Exec knows exactly what tape is in the drive - I think some tapes drives do this automatically - maybe the DLT units.. even if they do, its always best to inventory it - this only takes a few seconds.
2. Just close backup exec - make sure all the backup exec services are started - backup Exec works as a service, so the backups will happen in the background.
If this is not happening for you, then something else is not right on your system.
And good to see IDR works well for you
Mark