With the caching plugin, the load time will be the same for the first page load. After that, no processing will occur until the cache expires. Note that if you view the source, often themes include a timer output at the bottom. That output is cached as well. So if it takes 1 sec. for the first load, it will continue to say "1 sec." as long as the cached version is served (even though the cached version is loading much quicker).
To edit the theme, log in as an administrator and go to: Appearance > Editor. You will typically want to edit the following files (if they exist):
- archive.php
- index.php
- page.php
- search.php
- single.php
In each file, search for the code that looks something like this:
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
There may be some variations. For instance, the h2 tags may be h1 or h3... It should be changed to:
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
Save the files, and you should be good to go.