What is the best way to get low Gas fees + how to make metamask most safe?

I setup a meta mask and made a test transaction via uniswap and purchased a coin for around 10$ (ETH), however the gas fees cost me about 79$ which is insane. I know I heard about gas fees and gas was, but is 79$ normal? How much is normal, and how do I lower the gas fees? Should I do ETH transactions rarely? Any tips or guidelines for newbies which use ETH?

Also, I saw that many people got hacked by using MetaMask. It doesn't support 2FA. What's the best way to keep my money save on Metamask? I have a ledger but can I also stake and trade etc, while using metamask and a nano ledger? Do you have recommendations on using metamask?

Thanks