Hi, I've never done this unlocking thing, but I realize that you can do quite a lot of interesting things if you know what you're doing, so I'd love to learn. But, a learner needs a teacher...

I have lots of questions and surfing around for a little while hasn't really cleared everything out...

-Could anyone give me a pretty straightforward explanation of the difference between a main firmware and an FS one?

-Also, what do the different CID mean?

-If I say that a patch is a piece of code applied to the code originally in the phone's firmware, am I near the truth? What software is used to modify this code?

-Are there any risks of permanently damaging your phone while replacing the firmware and applying patches?

-I found a guide telling me to use the following software to unlock my phone:

SIMLockPatchGen
SETool 2 Lite
XS++

What does each one do?

Thanks a lot for your help!