Complete newbie, I just want to record a podcast...

I am having all sorts of issues with my setup and can’t tell if it’s audacity or my new PC, or what…but I’m supremely frustrated. Half of the time Audacity just locks up and I have to shut it down and restart then it works ok briefly. Playback routinely stops in the middle of my recordings for no apparent reason. There are all sorts of pops and clicks in my recordings and lots of skips and other errors.
It there some sort of personal tutor out there to help with getting started?

Appreciate some insight and hopefully someone to talk me off the ledge…
Stretch

If you try another free audio-editor, (e.g. ocenaudio) , and the problems persist , then it’s the new PC.

Windows 10 has a built-in sound editor. I understand the name changed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028308/windows-how-to-use-voice-recorder

A good servicing tool is to split the system into fractions and test each fraction. Find out if the microphone works with Voice Recorder. Make sure your playback is working correctly. Playback and Recording are two different jobs in Windows and they both have to work right.

Koz

Did you install Skype or other chat application on your new machine? Games? Audacity does not Play Well With Others. Make sure everything else is closed and not napping in the background.

Koz