He pushed open the creaking iron door of 'The Byte,’ a brick-and-mortar relic in a digital-cloud world. The air inside smelled of ozone and stale coffee. Behind the counter sat Kael, a mountain of a man whose fingers moved over a keyboard with the speed of a concert pianist. The shop was filled with the husks of a thousand devices—Samsungs with cracked faces, Nokies that had seen better decades, and rows of Alcatels, their screens dark and waiting.

: Unofficial "free" software downloads are high-risk sources for malware that can compromise personal data or grant remote access to your computer or phone.

The appeal is obvious: many users acquire second-hand or forgotten Alcatel phones and find themselves locked out. Others may wish to liberate a device from carrier control. A free, one-click tool seems like a perfect solution.

Sites like XDA Developers or GSM Forum are generally safer than random file-hosting blogs.