OK, well, if you want a character building guide the best thing to do is go to the official WotC community site and go through the Wiki there, the optimization/build guides are easy to find.
However, you can basically just take the recommended build options for a class in PHB1 or PHB2 and go with that. It is HARD to make a bad 4e character. Look at what your primary attack stat is, all but a few classes have one stat that is used for all attacks, make that an 18 after racial adjustments, drop the next highest number into a secondary stat and you'll have a character that performs well.
If you want to save a bit of time and make tinkering easier pick up the demo version of the Character Builder. It will let you do everything up to level 3. That way you can tweak around with stuff and see what affects what.
In terms of a good character to run they are all built around the same basic pattern of powers, so none of them are really that much simpler to build than the others, but some classes are easier to pick up and play quickly. Archer Rangers are pretty much the most dirt simple class to run. 18 Dex, take Twin Strike, get Great Bow proficiency (it is a weapon that is in AP1, not the PHB1) or Weapon Expertise in bows and you're pretty much set. You can just use TS and your Hunter's Quarry feature and you'll crank out good damage day in and day out. Elves obviously make awesome bow rangers. Half orcs are good too, especially if you want to go with STR and DEX for both melee and ranged effectiveness. Not quite as mobile as the elf, but they have good class features and stat boost to both STR and DEX.
The other classes are not rocket science either, just usually you get wrapped up in a bit more elaborate tactics. Fighters are easy to build. Playing them well requires some understanding of defender mechanics but basic tactics should be reasonably easy to figure out. Clerics aren't bad either and since healing is all minor actions you can attack effectively and heal, which is fun. Rogues require a bit of sorting out hiding and other ways to get Sneak Attack. Warlocks are pretty easy to run but tricky to build well. Warlords are awesome but definitely more complex to run and build. Paladins are cool but that class is a bit fiddly. Of the PHB2 classes Barbarian is pretty straightforward, CHARGE!!!! RAGE!!! Swing big weapon! lol. The other PHB2 classes are good too but they are not all as straightforward. Warden isn't too tricky though, but again it does involve figuring out some defending mechanics.
Basically though 4e PCs are a good bit easier to build than 3.x ones were. There aren't really any terribly bad options and it is quite hard to make a sucky character. You should do fine with whatever you run.
