How to record sounds on your PC

Attach your microphone to the Sound In port (it might have a picture of a microphone next to it).
If your microphone has an On button, turn it on. Otherwise, refer to the instruction sheet that came with it.
Open the Sound Recorder. (Open the Start menu and choose Programs, then Accessories, Entertainment and, finally, Sound Recorder.)
From the Sound Recorder, click New.
To begin recording, click Record - the circle that appears at the right-hand side of the Sound Recorder.
When you are finished recording, click Stop - the square that appears directly to the left of the circle.
Use the Play, Rewind and Seek to End buttons to test your recording.
When you are satisfied, save your sound file using the Save As command in the File menu.

Useful tools

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Learn more about Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net.