1. It really depends on the project. Generally, for smaller projects that I do myself, CreateThread using a threadproc works fine. std::thread (a wrapper for CreateThread afaik) is a bit finicky, but also works if I'm testing something specific. For the bigger projects, it's generally done by whoever's in charge with creating the base tiered-framework; not my job
2. I would assume that if it exists, it would not be as-is. I'm unfamiliar with ncurses specifications, so I couldn't tell you if something worked similarly enough.
3. Boost has its uses, and some people swear by it, but any time I find myself needing something from boost, I end up recreating it myself. I've honestly never used boost in a serious setting.
4. Visual Studio 2017 Pro. Works great, no addons except ReSharper C++. Also, (not exactly an IDE) but Notepad++ is great for when I want to edit a file without the launch time of vs.