Adam,
In my haste to answer your post while you were still online I didn't answer all the questions, but yes, I will typically select my power numbers by taking what I deem the strongest number and its best pairing. Most times all of the candidates would have been in the last 5-10 games out range, since they "often" play together (but obviously not always or it would be a snap!). And what I've noticed for my 5/40 game is that the strongest number will bring along 1 or 2 of its best friends even though the "charts" say those "friends" weren't good for that draw. This is where your "gut" and just overall knowledge of your game comes into play. Especially in the case of adjacents. I've seen this happen too many times to mention, and because of not following my gut, and getting all caught up in the "rules" I've missed many plays! Here's an example of what I mean, let's say the number 11 played in the previous draw, you study the charts and maybe "10" and "12" are in the last 5 games status. 10 is looking very good for whatever number of reasons you deem important, 12 is looking a very weak by that same analysis, BUT its an adjacent and a "friend" of 10 ... Now your gut is saying play it anyway, hey maybe even use it as a power number (because its a friend & adjacent) ... but your studies show that the last couple of draws 2 adjacents played in each draw, so what's the likelihood of 2 coming up again, and it seems so obvious a play ... but you don't play the "12" and BAM! The next draw brings that friggin 10 & 12. So, don't get bogged down with too many rules; try to stay loose and develop a good "feel" for your game. It will come with time.
Yes you are right about the entire history being misleading, which is why I found the lottery director software to be so helpful. Its unfortunate that they don't support your game, but its not a total loss. Here's what I would do, you can run GH's software many times side by side for the same chart or others, so I would open it up with the entire history for let's say chart 4, again with less history (you decide) for chart 4 again, or maybe for chart 8. With chart 8 though, most recent history with at least 500 games is more important and the F4 "view" (this is where I use lottery director heavily because it displays the info better) so try that and see what happens. Lottery director shows each number's rank by 10, 20, 100 games and entire history, this is the same as chart 7 in advantage plus. Again, its a matter of preference as to the display. The hardest part of having all of this info is truly interpreting the data and not going crazy. Being nimble and ready to try anything. And don't feel like you always have to "wheel" the numbers. Of course you'll get better coverage if all the winners are in your pool and you wheel them, but when uncertain or if cash is tight, then just put together a few lines by hand and play them. Doing it on paper and testing doesn't prove anything unfortunately because its a whole different ball game when cash is on the line. Its more emotional (believe it or not) and you will check & recheck and then check again when it involves money being spent! As opposed to just running some numbers on paper and waiting to see what "would have" happened. We have the "test drive" function of the software for that ...
Good luck today!
Maria