Hello, Sam,
Thank you for contacting us and for using XStore.
1/ Regarding your query, selecting a category in the search form means that the search for keywords you enter will be conducted within the selected category. If you wish to modify the current functionality, please post it on https://www.8theme.com/taskboard/. Should your suggestion garner sufficient support from other customers, our development team will take it into consideration for inclusion in future updates.
2/ Please read this article – https://www.8theme.com/documentation/documentation/troubleshooting/how-to-remove-the-uncategorized-category-from-wordpress/
We hope this information is helpful.
Kind Regards,
8theme team