Very New: Simple Questions about Interface

[Mahpiya]

Greetings,
I am new to 3dsMax9, and have a background in XSI/Softimage.
I have been exploring into Max, and attempted to model a head.
I have a few questions concerning the differences between the two software:

- Hide/Unhide
In XSI, I select the object and press 'h' to hide or unhide the object.
In Max, not so simple ... how do I do this?

- Displaying open edges/boundaries on polygonal object
In XSI, a simple display feature displays any open faces with a light blue wire.
In Max, I have been looking, but to no avail.

- Framing objects in Window views
In XSI, press 'f' and it zooms into the object selected (camera view will allow camera to orbit around the framed object)
How do I do this in Max?

- 5 or more sided polys
In XSI, a feature allows me to search for any illegal 5 or more sided poly faces.

Sorry for the continual comparisons, but it is the best way for me to describe what I feel I need to know, for me to make my transition into Max, easier.
Honestly, I feel 'blind' not having these features. When attempting to build a face in Max ... I exported it into XSI, just to view my mistakes, and found overlapped polys, open faces and illegal 5 pt polys. AHHHHH!
There are many amazing modelers in Max, so any feedback would be fantastic!

Thanks,
Mahpiya :cry:

right click-> hide

framing - right bottom corner of the screen, white cube in a frame =)