Can't Update Ie5 To Ie6

I had been using IE 6.0 for a couple of years, but after trying to rid myself of some spyware I think I messed something up (?). IE isn't able to connect to the net through my AOL service (please don't laugh!). I ended up resetting IE to a previous version. IE5.0 I tried to update back to 6.0 on Microsoft's site, but I get this error message: "Setup was unable to download information about available installation sites. Setup may have been unable to use your current proxy settings. Click advanced if you know your proxy settings." I guess that is the reason I was having problems with 6.0 in the first place. Can anyone suggest what I should do? Thank you. (I have Windows 98SE).

Okay, I got the update to work by unchecking the proxy box. Still can't open IE 6.0. "Cannot find server". I was online with an AOL support tech and he/she couldn't help either. For whatever reason IE can open inside AOL's window, but not outside. Now I'm updating Windows critical files to see if that helps. I realize AOL is not the preferred ISP because of these exact issues, but I get it for free from work and I'm not going to try anything else for now. So I really want to work around AOL's issues (if it is their problem). 6.0 used to work fine with AOL.