Select

[ToninoS]

I would like to be able to hold down the CNTRL key and then whatever is touching the box that i drag across with my left mouse button is selected without having to drag the box across the whole object.

[hidden layer]

moving a selected shape with CTRL-key duplicates the selected shape.
Or did I misunderstood you?

hl

[Yacine]

Why not use the lasso select?


Alternatively, in the options there's a point that says something like "Select shapes that are partially in the selection box".

[Surrogate]

I highly doubt that M$FT will improve anything in Visio desktop in the near future. At best something will appear in version Visio 2525, but we will never know. 

Why not use the lasso select?

There was a branch in our Russian forum: Line selection a-la AutoCAD

If you do not want to wait long, try the solution proposed in this thread.
Another branch on the subject Selection a-la AutoCAD