Hi all, I will first admit to being an imbecile when it comes to installing software. I am trying to install Audacity 2.2.2 on a PC running Windows 7. Here is what I did: I downloaded the zip file for Audacity 2.2.2, and the zip file was located in my “downloads” folder.There were several Audacity folders in the download window such as Languages, Nyguist and Plug-Ins. I clicked on “extract all files” and this showed a location for Audacity in my C file in “downloads”. This appeared to copy 245 files, and the audacity application icon appeared in the downloads window. I double-clicked on this, and it asked if I wanted to run, and I clicked okay. I got a message that “the Audacity project (.AUP) files are not currently associated with Audacity – associate them, so they open on double-click?” I have no idea what this means, but I clicked okay. This immediately brought up the Welcome to Audacity Window and the “how to get help” list (e.g. quick help or manual) and the Audacity interface. So, I thought I installed everything correctly but it never asked me to save it in a program file or gave me any prompts other than what I have listed above. I wanted to test it with a microphone so I plugged that in, but it kept giving me a message: “Error opening sound device. Try changing the audio host, recording device and the project sample rate.” So, I closed Audacity in case it hadn’t recognized the microphone, but when I tried to reopen it, I could not find Audacity on my PC, except in the same downloads file as above, which again asks if I want to run it, which I have already done. So, it does not appear that I have actually installed Audacity at this point. Please tell me what I did wrong – would the Audacity program even open up if I hadn’t installed it? If it is installed, why is it giving me the error message about the sound device? Thank you very much for any help you can give me.
The easy way to install Audacity is to use the “Audacity 2.2.2 installer (19.31 MB, includes help files)”, which is the download near the top of this page: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/
I’d suggest that you delete your current “installation”, and download the installer version. When the download is complete, double click on the file to start the installation process and follow the on-screen instructions.
During the installation, watch out for the option to"Reset Preferences", and select that option. Then, when Audacity first starts, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to reset preferences - confirm this option. This will reset Audacity’s settings to their defaults. In most cases, the defaults are the best options (can be changed when you know what you’re doing 
Note that if you are using a USB microphone, you should connect the microphone to the computer first. It’s always best to connect the microphone before starting Audacity.
Windows will usually select the USB microphone as the default recording device. If Windows hasn’t selected the correct recording device, you can select the required recording device in the device toolbar.
Thank you very much, Steve. I will give that a try! Not sure why it didn’t work with the zip files.