I forgot to mention you dont have any menus on the HUD...go to Display>Heads Up Display and tick boxes Poly Count and Object Display as well as View Axis...so when you select the verts you are going to merge...the Poly Count on the top left will tell you how many verts you have selected.
Cheers bullet
bullet1968
"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes