Very confused as to how to set up "certain" plugins

Hello..
Im a little confused about how to set up certain plugins i have.
Some have a “settings”, “deactivate”, “edit”
But some have no “settings” link
Some of these plugins i have no idea how to set up since there is no “settings” link.. I usually end up uninstalling them and spending sometimes hours going thru alternates until i finally find one with a “settings” link.

An example of one now is Twitter Tools
When i installed it, it installed a 4 plugins
the first main one has: “settings”, “deactivate”, “edit”
but i want it to exclude certain categories, so i see the plugin
“Twitter Tools – Exclude Category”
but it has no settings link, only “deactivate”, “edit”

I am aware the edit brings me to html editor, but Im really lost in there, it may as well be alien language to me.

I am using the twitter plugin as an example, but I often have this problem with many plugins i try.. i can never set them up because there is no settings.

I am also aware that certain plugins will put a new option in the lefthand dashboard.. i know about them, and always look there and other places after installing a plugin with no “settings” link.

Im not sure if im installing the plugins correctly, or is there another place to set up plugins?

regards