How can I quickly tell the type of a license key?

The recommended  way to determine the type of a license key is by calling "ValidateLicense" or one of its variants.

There is additionally a shortcut to determine the type of a license by examining the first letter of a license. These are the possible values for the first letter of a license key:

A: Activation Key

B: Activation Key with an expiry date/duration

C: Permanent key, bound to a computer by the Computer Name

D: Evaluation key, bound to a computer by the Computer Name

E: Evaluation key, not bound to a computer

G: Permanent Generic key

U: Permanent, bound to a computer by  a User Defined  ID.

V: Evaluation key, bound to a computer by a User Defined ID.