Reply to Some questions regarding producing.

Hey you guys, so I've been interested in producing for roughly a year now. I never really got into it THAT much because of lack of time, and it's so much to get your head around, but I feel like I'm slowly getting the idea. (3 of my tracks http://soundcloud.com/djbartje93).

Anyway I learned all this while messing around and having no clue so sorry if I ask something stupid hehe

Vst Plugins: So I got massive, Nexus 2 along with a couple of others and it got some NICE sounds in it, however, they are presets. Is it "cheating" to use these presets? How do you guys use those VST's? Do you create new sounds from scratch or pick something you like and then tweak it to your liking? I tried creating new ones from scratch but it becomes VERY difficult and complicated fast, and I don't really know what I'm doing...

Compressor/limiter: Any tips on how to make my tracks sound better using these is very much appreciated.

And last but not least, what can I do to tweak the overall sound or mix it properly when it is finished? What do you use, EQU? I'm just making sure I'm not missing some obvious tool in the program (it's so big!)

Once again I'm sorry for the perhaps nooby questions but these are going on in my mind for some time and some awnsers would be great!
Thanks!