Ahhhhh! God's in His Heaven, All's right with the world!
It was the 'recording device' but not 'microphone'; it was 'line in' and my installed sound card (Digital SoundMax in my case). There are 2 dropdown menues in recording ?Device, and I just kept switching them untile i got the right combination. initially after I managed to get the right combination, I did get a sound comming in and was able to record, but the recording was 'fuzzy' and there was a bit of red on the sound bar (sound/recording indicator bar) so I decreased the recording level way back (it had been up all the way to just where it changes from green to red) and the recording comes out now clear as a bell.
I had downloaded som other more complicated programs but still can't figure out how to make them work, but after I found this one, haven't even given them further attention. I like how 'intuitive' this program is; you don't have to be a sound engineer to work it, and it does what it says it does. Dynamite program. Thanks again!