So, I tried something different...

I tried putting the name of the database into the config/db_settings.php file along with the user and password information, then when I went to the front page at...

[localhost]/forum/

in my browser, I get this error message...

my little forum
Database error

Table '[MySQL name].mlf2_settings' doesn't exist

Which implies that I have not installed the scripts yet? I don't know.....