Record Audio From Sound Card How Do I Record Audio To My Hard Disk Drive, By Putting The Audio Into The Microphone Input Of My Sound Card. ?

How do I record audio to my Hard Disk Drive, by putting the Audio into the Microphone input of my Sound Card. ? - record audio from sound card

I have Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 3 for Microsoft. Do I need special software to record audio from microphone. Input of my soundcard to my C: Hard Disk Drive.
Any help would be appreciated. If special software is required to do so, you can choose to use any. "Free" at the bottom of downloadable software for this task?

Thanks

Bruce Barnicke