I have not used one of those free web page providers in a long time, so i really do not know which is the best anymore. But when I first began experimenting with web pages I used angelfire.com. However, angelfire added ads to every page on your.
I know for sure there is are some "ad-less" sites out there.
http://www.freedomain.co.nr/ is one of 'em. However, these guys only provide 15 megs of space.
Concerning setting up yoru first page.....You can either use an ftp client to upload your files to your host's servers. THe More popular free hosts offer web based file managers. THese eliminate the need for ftp.
If you plan to work with scripts, like php or perl, you will need ftp client so you can change permissions.
When you upload your files, whether you use ftp or a web based file manager, you must make your main page index.htm or index.html
If you decide to use an ftp client, my personal favorite is FTP Commander. It is easy to use and has a nice user interface. You can get it at
http://www.internet-soft.com/