On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:45:27 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:23:33 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"Mike Harrison" wrote in message
news:Zntcj.13751$vd4.3145@pd7urf1no...
Can anyone help me block these MI5 messages. I've tried using
M***5
as a subject line filter in Outlook Express (filtering the root
newsgroup
directory), but it doesn't do the job.


I don't pay close attention to those messages, but I seem to recall that
they all contain "MI5". Why would you use wildcards when you could simply
use "MI5", which should stop them cold?

Because the spammer frequently puts spaces or other characters between
those characters to get around your filter.

If you filter "MI5", your filter will miss "MI 5", M I5, M I 5, M15,
etc.

A quick look at OE's help system gives no indication that wildcards are
supposed to work. I wonder if it's an undocumented feature, or the OP is
trying a trick he learned for a different program.

Used to be that wildcards allowed for a non-specific range of input.

I'm not really sure they were even intended to delete "spam".