With the key on engine off, you should clearly hear the mixture control solenoid in the carb.  If not something is wrong.  Granted it will only do this for about 10 seconds until it stops.  With the engine running it is continous. You usually can't hear it unless the hood is open.

The A and B connectors are next to each other in the connector, both at one end.  If the little tabs on the corner edge are at the bottom, the A and B are at the top right.  If you short the wrong ones, it won't hurt anything.  When you get the correct ones, the "Check Engine" light will start to blink.

When the mixture control solenoid does not work, the car runs richer than it would otherwise.  Cold conditions like rich mixtures, so this is not likely the cold operation problem, but could contribute.