When an item in a menu is 'touched', MFC attempts to display the descriptive text corresponding to the menu item based on its ID value. There are default values for some of the system-provided IDs, but not all of them, and not for any that would normally be defined by (you) the programmer.
For the example menu items you provide here, you need to add strings to describe the menu choices. In your .RC or .RC2 file, add the following section:
STRINGTABLE
BEGIN
ID_FILE_NEW "Create a new document\nNew"
ID_FILE_OPEN "Open an existing document\nOpen"
ID_FILE_CLOSE "Close the active document\nClose"
ID_FILE_SAVE "Save the active document\nSave"
ID_FILE_SAVE_AS "Save the active document with a new name\nSave As"
ID_FILE_PAGE_SETUP "Change the printing options\nPage Setup"
ID_FILE_PRINT_SETUP "Change the printer and printing options\nPrint Setup"
ID_FILE_PRINT "Print the active document\nPrint"
ID_FILE_PRINT_PREVIEW "Display full pages\nPrint Preview"
ID_FILE_MRU_FILE1 "Open first file\nFirst file"
ID_APP_EXIT "Sayonara\nBye now"
END
This is the notepad version; you can also edit with the resource editor...