I belive there in options is a setting called something with "lable" - try checking that one out and see if it is set to on. I would think there is a short cut key as well, but I don't know that one.
Q: What happened to the item labels? There used to be text on items that are on the ground but now they’re gone.
A: These can be turned off, which is what probably happened. You can turn them on or off two ways. Press the L key, or click the small square paper icon in the lower-left of the screen, just to the left of the Powers buttons.
Hopefully this will work.
it did - I must have accidentaly hit the 'L' on the keyboard. - doh!