I wish inverter type microwaves were standard. The vast majority of residential microwave ovens only modulate on like a 10 second interval. So you put it on power setting 3 or 30 and it will pump out full power for 3 seconds then off for 7 seconds. This works for things like defrosting meat, but a bunch of foods will still start popping and drying out in those few seconds. Inverter microwaves modulate many times a second so they can warm much more fragile foods without searing them.

Yes, but some times the popping is just the food unfreezing. If the food is not burning and staying cold at the same time, then do nothing.

Yep. Same reason you don't run your conventional oven at max for most food types.