Press s to scale on all axis. (if you then press x/y/z you can constrain to those axis, or shift+x/y/z to block scaling on that axis) For free rotation, just press r twice Edit: you can also use mouse gestures for transforming. Draw a v shape for scale, a circle for rotation and a line for moving. You can also use middle…
Drag from inside the white circle in the gizmo. Personally I never ever use the gizmo in blender. Rather the buttons s,g,r and constrain to axis keys as okno says. Gizmos to me feel innacurate, slow (have to aim your mouse onto the handles) and take up space on screen. Pressing r then z+z again will rotate the selected…