Visual C++ is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), using it one can develop applications for Windows using C or C++ programming languages.
When you use Visual C++ you end up using the C++ language, and you need to learn the language itself to become able to develop any application that is not too simple to be useful.
Visual C++ as an IDE uses the Microsoft C/C++ compiler "cl" which is Standard C++ compliant as long as you don't use any Microsoft specific extensions especially the .NET extensions of the C++ language. This means that you can write code that can be compiled successfully using Visual C++ and some other C++ compiler like "gnu gcc".
Visual C++ may make you life easier and helps you write code faster. As an IDE it is excellent indeed.
The question which is easier is not actually a valid one for as it should be clear the two things are different kinds of animals. You may ask which is easier to use if you compare Visual C++ to some other IDE like Borland's C++ Builder or like Dev-C++.
You can also ask which is easier to learn if you compare C++ to some other language like C#, Java, or C. Interestingly, the syntax for all these languages are similar as they all derive from C. If you measure by how much keywords and language constructs you need to learn C will be the easiest of them all, it has some 30 keywords as a whole and few constructs to learn.
My advice to you is separate the tool from the language if you mean to do serious programming. Programming languages are compared in terms of power, efficiency, scalability, and then ease of usage. If you are new to the field of programming learn a powerful language C or C++ first. This makes learning any other language a snap. When you have a specific project to work on you will be able to choose the language, and the tool most suitable for this project.
In the sources a link to where you can download Visual C++ express edition. It is free and it is an excellent tool to help you learn C++.