Speed optimization

Hi-
I’m working on optimizing my website for speed, and I’ve read the article in the Highend documentation: http://documentation.hb-themes.com/highend/#theme-optimization.

I have the W3 Cache and EWWW image optimizer plug-ins, but I have no idea how to use them (I’m not a developer), and the help videos and instructions are too technical for me. Do you have some basic settings that you could send me for these plugins so I could get started with them?

The EWWW IO seems to require three different files (optipng, gifsicle, and pngout) which I haven’t the slightest clue how to install. (Incidentally, when I click the link to install pngout automatically, I received the following error message: Pngout was not installed: Make sure this folder is writable (followed by the folder name).)

So, I’m at a loss. What do you suggest?

Thanks.