WHDLoad Free refuses to run on my WB install

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

WHDLoad_usr_small.lha only consists of eight files:

C: DIC
C:Patcher
C:RawDIC
C:WHDLoad
C:WHDLoadCD32
S:WHDLoad.prefs
S:WHDLoad-Cleanup
S:WHDLoad-Startup

+ some docs and history texts.

Delete all those in your SYS: and replace with the ones from the .lha archive, should resolve any problems with "the wrong version of WHDLoad".  Arguably you don't even need most of those - just replacing the main C:WHDLoad executable is usually enough to update to the latest version (if you already have a previous version installed).

That being said, I suspect your problem is actually  with this so-called "full-featured" WB install of Amiga Forever 2012, or with the setup of the games you've installed.  Try checking the icon tooltypes of one of your games.  Does it point to C:WHDLoad?  Post a screenshot.  Also, are the .slave files and any other files necessary for the game to run located in the correct directory?  Did the games ever run?  You might want to try downloading from a different source, etc.  Good luck!  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

In the end, I put it down to a problem in the AF install and just decided to do away with it

Good call.  If you haven't already guessed, I'm not a super-big fan of a lot of these "Workbench enhancer" packs.  Just seen too many people having random problems like this because of the way they change things around.  Better to start with a regular Workbench install and then customize it to suit your tastes, IMHO.