In the Main Lobby, under player settings,
you can adjust several items which will then effect how the game is viewed.
Under Game settings, you can adjust the size of your map, experiment for best effect, just be aware that some small games may not display if your map is bigger than the actual width of the game map, don't worry though, you can adjust this in game :)
you can choose wether to show empire borders or not, I'd suggest showing them as an enemy could easily come through a Nap of the same color without you noticing.
Connection speed: This will effect how much data is displayed, on slow it will not show pictures when you click on regions for instance.
player level: Once you click to advanced, you'll no longer receive the Kar t'uf mails or any of the New player tutorial or beginner stuff.
Zoom level: This will set the default zoom level you'll see in each game you enter, you can change it at anytime, but it will only effect games from that point on, current games will be uneffected.
Although you still have the option of setting a default Map in Game.
then you have options as to what is & isn't displayed, I'd suggest leaving all of these on excpt region names as they show up on the bottom left of screen when you mouse over the region.
Choose a combination of options that best suits your requirements or limitations, if you have any further questions or your still not sure of something, please don't hesitate to ask your coach.