instances , empty and scale

where would I learn more about empty and instances?  I heard instances can be like array but save memory.

I would like to learn how to set up a large landscape scene. I have tried real world scale but I dont know how to set up the grid scale.  does this effect camera settings?

also, I am trying to learn more about Blender files, pathways and such. I have noticed when I have uninstalled blender to fix a issue, once I reinstall it it has my same settings. trying to get rid of addons I added.