Sound Recorder records ALL sounds, including the external ones..like a phone ringing, a dog barking, your sniffling...LOL! But it's a fast option for quick things. I use it once in a while, mostly if I need to record my voice for something though and then I shut the door and turn off the phone to try to avoid outside noise.
Hazel, I actually have a Windows Media Player tutorial I made a few years ago. But it's about 100MB, LOL! I recorded myself doing various functions and explaining them as I went. I make music videos and slide shows quite a bit and even belong to a WMM forum, LOL, so am pretty fluent with it. I'm at work at the moment, but I can type up a little tutorial for you tomorrow for the basics. It's super easy!