I’ve started using v2.69 and there appears to be no hotkey to call the menu which lets you select between vertex, edge and faces like there was in the previous version I was using (it used to be Ctrl-Tab). I just searched for it in preferences and found nothing… was it removed or changed to something else?
I understand there’s a button for it on the interface but I prefer hotkeys where available.
Also, is there a hotkey to jump to either mode (eg: “1” for vertex, “2” for edge?) - I can’t find this either…
Mesh selection mode hotkey works just fine. Try factory defaults (file -> load factory settings) and see if there is a problem with the settings. There is no hotkey for individual selection modes but you can add them by opening the mesh selection menu and right click on the selection -> add shortcut.