if you install the rpm, you don't have to recompile anything. (recompiling is for Gentoo users)
the vnc server thing makes a file in your homedir. This file is editable I think you can find the port number in it as well. Otherwise you are probably able to override it using a command line switch.
Maybe cygwin on your PC is simpler to run an X-server on windows, so you can do ssh -CX to your server and start graphical applications on your server like that?
Webmin is very nice to control your server (apache, samba, etc) via a webpage, very nice for windows savvy users.
http://www.webmin.com/