Canon G11 - SETTING TO TAKE BEST PICTURES

Bought new canon G11. But very disappointed with image quality and noise.
Tried both indoor and outdoor. Want to use this camera for my vacation.

I am not a photographer. Using auto mode. Did not edit pictures after taking them.
My old Kodak 5MP D series pictures are lot better than these pictures.
But have seen better pictures by G11 on flicker and here.

What setting can I use to take indoor (Museum) pictures and also outdoor pictures.

Was surprised that even outdoor pictures had lot of noise with auto mode. Picture sizes are

Please help.

Thanks.