I found a quick solution to max's drag selection problems.
For those that dont know...
Turn Window crossing off...
To do this:
Go to the main toolbar... Find the window crossing button.
In Max 2017 & 2018 It is located to left of the move, rotate and scale buttons.
When window crossing is turned on... The button looks like a dotted box with a solid box in the centre.
When it is turned off the icon looks like a dotted box with the solid box on the right hand side.