Front derailleur can't get largest chainring?

I just got this bike for christmas. Out of box the rear derailleur was fine with a little fine tuning, but the front derailleur was hitting the chain when I switched to the largest chainring. I followed the online manual's guide to setting it up initially, then Parktools' guide to adjusting, but now I can only switch to the smaller two chainrings.

How do I fix this? I can provide pics if needed

Also, it takes a lot of effort to shift the front to a smaller chainring, a related problem?