Setting up user preferences I love the look of Blender after after many years of not paying it any attention - the features look great si I would like to start learning and using it.
However, I'm stuck at the beginning of just setting it up.
I'm coming from Modo, Lightwave and Maya and this is how I want to control it. The Maya preset is not enough, and I don't want to adapt to the Blender right click.
When I set it up to mouse Left click and combination of Alt, Shift or Alt+Shift for screen navigation, I then cannot select between verts, edges and polys. 

Is there a way to set this up or do I have to accept the Blender way of doing things?

Also, the axis are changed from 'normal' - is thera way to change the Y axis to up and down and have Z for depth?

Thanks in advance!
I Can give you some tips, you can change all inputs you need in Blender, in the Blender User Preferences Panel:


As you can see, I highlight a input I mapped to  my own workflow, the Edge Loop Selection to the input Alt+Select Mouse. Each input have advanced properties you can set, as well a combination of inputs to execute it.


Here I show you a default shortcut for a great deal of tools for Blender 2.73, although mostly of the shortcuts stay the same.



So, while yes, you can change and map each input to your liking, it's not advised to do so, Blender it's a different software than Modo, Maya, 3DsMax, so I recommend you to use Blender the way it is, you will get used to it just like you are confortable working in your favorite softwares.

For your to change Y axis to Z, here's a relatable question: Is it possible to make Blender a Y-up world?