Just to supplement the excellent work already being done here . . .
Regarding the original problem you had with the pop-up ads . . .
This suggests that you had (and possibly still have) spyware/adware on your system.
I recommend you download & run the following:
StartUpList (to generate a list of all startup and running apps/processes)
Spybot and/or
Ad-Aware (to remove all spyware/adware items)
I'm assuming you're using a different pc at the moment, so you will need to find a way of transferring these files over.
StartUpList is small enough to transfer over on a floppy.
If you paste the StartUpList result file here, we should be able to help identify the spyware culprits (if any) and get them to stop loading at bootup.
Alternatively, run the System Information Tool:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSINFO\MSINFO32.EXE
In Winfile:
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\MSINFO\MSINFO32.EXE
Go to: Software Environment -> Running Tasks
Edit menu -> select all
Edit menu -> copy
Paste & save it to a text file in Notepad (c:\windows\notepad.exe)
Repeat for "Startup Programs" and "Services"
(note: I'm not sure if "services" is a Win2k/XP-only entry)
Manually type in separator lines to help us distinguish each section.
Copy the file over on to the other pc
Paste the text or attach the .txt file here.
Just as a matter of interest, where did you download/install IE6 from in the first place? Was it from microsoft.com, or off a cover cd, or elsewhere?
You also said that "during the (uninstall) process, some files got corrupted".
Could you please elaborate on this a bit more?
What Anti-Virus software is installed?
btw, I used WinME for over a year before upgrading to XP, but I certainly never tried to run Winfile as the shell (I know it's there in all Win9x OS'es, but the last time I actually used it was in Win 3.11), so I honestly haven't got a clue if any of my suggestions are going to work . . .
To be perfectly honest with you, the easiest option would be to reinstall WinME.
[edit]
Aah, just read some more from above.
Symantec/Norton problems
Maybe try opening c:\windows\system\sysedit.exe
Look in config.sys, system.ini, win.ini
Comment out any lines relating to Symantec/Norton apps with a semicolon, eg.
;device=navap32.sys
If there's any references in autoexec.bat
then these can be commented out by typing REM at the beginning of the line, eg.
REM Norton Nightmare=c:\progra~1\bleh\norton.exe
(note: I don't use any Norton software, and never will, so I don't know the exact entries/paths/filenames)
It might be wise to disable all Symantec/Norton apps first in msconfig before rebooting:
c:\windows\system\msconfig.exe
Startup tab
Uncheck relevant items
I believe these items are essential:
ScanRegistry
PCHealth
*StateMgr
System Tray
Explorer (ie. when set as shell)