for the blanking--it's related to Apple's implementaion of Java, I recall--as you note, it's not a functional problem, just disconcerting.

For the problem with search terms treating words as OR requests, use the "Any Type" search with a few terms and the extension. i.e., "song title .mp3"

That should give you better results, though the spammers will still send you about 60 bogus "song title.wmv" and "song title.jpg" results (you can block .jpg and .wmv results in the filter section of the prefs).

cheers