Visual Studio project type guids
Visual Studio projects system architecture uses GUIDs to identifiy the type of the project. You could find online lists like these below:
INFO: List of known project type Guids
Visual Studio Projects - Project Type GUIDs
Such GUIDs allows the Visual Studio to recognize what type of project user opened and use appropriate tools and editors. To uderstand better what do I mean - read this post for example: Opening an ASP.NET MVC project without having ASP.NET MVC installed: The project type is not supported by this installation
I found a site that lists some known project type GUIDs for Visual Studio 2008.
FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC
looks like a Windows C# project (probably a Class Library project?)786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB
appears to be a Portable Library project
I agree that it's crazy to expect a developer to understand the project type represented by a GUID but whoever supplied the code you downloaded could have indicated what was required to build it!
Here's a list of project type GUIDs:
8BB2217D-0F2D-49D1-97BC-3654ED321F3B
ASP.NET 5603C0E0B-DB56-11DC-BE95-000D561079B0
ASP.NET MVC 1F85E285D-A4E0-4152-9332-AB1D724D3325
ASP.NET MVC 2E53F8FEA-EAE0-44A6-8774-FFD645390401
ASP.NET MVC 3E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47
ASP.NET MVC 4349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21
ASP.NET MVC 5 / Web ApplicationFAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC
C#9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556
C# (forces use of SDK project system)8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942
C++13B669BE-BB05-4DDF-9536-439F39A36129
CPS barebones projectA9ACE9BB-CECE-4E62-9AA4-C7E7C5BD2124
Database4F174C21-8C12-11D0-8340-0000F80270F8
DatabaseC8D11400-126E-41CD-887F-60BD40844F9E
Database3EA9E505-35AC-4774-B492-AD1749C4943A
Deployment Cab06A35CCD-C46D-44D5-987B-CF40FF872267
Deployment Merge Module978C614F-708E-4E1A-B201-565925725DBA
Deployment SetupAB322303-2255-48EF-A496-5904EB18DA55
Deployment Smart Device CabF135691A-BF7E-435D-8960-F99683D2D49C
Distributed SystemBF6F8E12-879D-49E7-ADF0-5503146B24B8
Dynamics 2012 AX C# in AOT82B43B9B-A64C-4715-B499-D71E9CA2BD60
ExtensibilityF2A71F9B-5D33-465A-A702-920D77279786
F#6EC3EE1D-3C4E-46DD-8F32-0CC8E7565705
F# (forces use of SDK project system)95DFC527-4DC1-495E-97D7-E94EE1F7140D
IL projectE6FDF86B-F3D1-11D4-8576-0002A516ECE8
J#262852C6-CD72-467D-83FE-5EEB1973A190
JScript20D4826A-C6FA-45DB-90F4-C717570B9F32
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (C#)CB4CE8C6-1BDB-4DC7-A4D3-65A1999772F8
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (VB.NET)581633EB-B896-402F-8E60-36F3DA191C85
LightSwitch Project8BB0C5E8-0616-4F60-8E55-A43933E57E9C
LightSwitchb69e3092-b931-443c-abe7-7e7b65f2a37f
Micro FrameworkC1CDDADD-2546-481F-9697-4EA41081F2FC
Office/SharePoint App786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB
Portable Class Library66A26720-8FB5-11D2-AA7E-00C04F688DDE
Project FoldersD954291E-2A0B-460D-934E-DC6B0785DB48
Shared Project593B0543-81F6-4436-BA1E-4747859CAAE2
SharePoint (C#)EC05E597-79D4-47f3-ADA0-324C4F7C7484
SharePoint (VB.NET)F8810EC1-6754-47FC-A15F-DFABD2E3FA90
SharePoint WorkflowA1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B
Silverlight4D628B5B-2FBC-4AA6-8C16-197242AEB884
Smart Device (C#)68B1623D-7FB9-47D8-8664-7ECEA3297D4F
Smart Device (VB.NET)2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8
Solution Folder3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB
TestA5A43C5B-DE2A-4C0C-9213-0A381AF9435A
Universal Windows Class LibraryF184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F
VB.NET778DAE3C-4631-46EA-AA77-85C1314464D9
VB.NET (forces use of SDK project system)C252FEB5-A946-4202-B1D4-9916A0590387
Visual Database Tools54435603-DBB4-11D2-8724-00A0C9A8B90C
Visual Studio 2015 Installer Project ExtensionA860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107
Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA)BAA0C2D2-18E2-41B9-852F-F413020CAA33
Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)2CFEAB61-6A3B-4EB8-B523-560B4BEEF521
Web DeploymentE24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A
Web Site3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)76F1466A-8B6D-4E39-A767-685A06062A39
Windows Phone 8/8.1 Blank/Hub/Webview AppC089C8C0-30E0-4E22-80C0-CE093F111A43
Windows Phone 8/8.1 App (C#)DB03555F-0C8B-43BE-9FF9-57896B3C5E56
Windows Phone 8/8.1 App (VB.NET)60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)BC8A1FFA-BEE3-4634-8014-F334798102B3
Windows Store (Metro) Apps & ComponentsD954291E-2A0B-460D-934E-DC6B0785DB48
Windows Store App Universal930C7802-8A8C-48F9-8165-68863BCCD9DD
WiX Setup14822709-B5A1-4724-98CA-57A101D1B079
Workflow (C#)D59BE175-2ED0-4C54-BE3D-CDAA9F3214C8
Workflow (VB.NET)32F31D43-81CC-4C15-9DE6-3FC5453562B6
Workflow FoundationEFBA0AD7-5A72-4C68-AF49-83D382785DCF
Xamarin.Android / Mono for Android6BC8ED88-2882-458C-8E55-DFD12B67127B
Xamarin.iOS / MonoTouchF5B4F3BC-B597-4E2B-B552-EF5D8A32436F
MonoTouch Binding6D335F3A-9D43-41b4-9D22-F6F17C4BE596
XNA (Windows)2DF5C3F4-5A5F-47a9-8E94-23B4456F55E2
XNA (XBox)D399B71A-8929-442a-A9AC-8BEC78BB2433
XNA (Zune)
Some of these are given different names under different versions of Visual Studio, so if you don't see an exact name match, look for a similar or related name.