Views Search

I'm using Views to create a search of user profiles - the profiles are nodes and the view searches based on teh location field. I have the results displaying in a table view becuase the search results view just isn't that nice to look at. Anyway, the search works great, but I have two problems:
1 is that the first search page that is presented when teh link is clicked has a list of 10 users underneath the search box before anything has even been inputted. I would like to get rid of this list as it is serves no purpose. How can I do this?
2, I would like to have a search box in a block, but when I use the provide block on the view, the block has no search function and just displays the same list as in the previous problem, but in a block. Is there a way I can have a search bar in the sidebar?
Thanks for any help.