Root [Verizon] Updating advice, please

[FiveTexans]

I rooted my S3 the day I brought it home, and have basically done nothing with it for about 6 months. It's amazing how much you forget in 6 months as technology moves on.

I have a couple questions. I have
SCH-i535
Android version 4.04

I haven't been able to do an OTA update since I'm rooted, and I want to update to the latest version, but I'm reading things about bootloader, synergy, cleanrom, etc. What would be my best path to update?

Thanks for your time!

 

[Mikestony]

I would just flash the latest rom that has 4.1.2 goodies baked into it such as Cleanrom and others.
Personally, I wouldn't even bother trying to unroot, take the OTA update, then reroot.
But that's just me

Edit: by the way, is your bootloader unlocked at the moment?

 

[FiveTexans]

How do I know if bootloader is unlocked?

 

[Mikestony]

How do I know if bootloader is unlocked?

Ah, the question to which I have not found a satisfactory answer to yet.
2 ways of knowing:
A: you wont be able to flash some roms that require an unlocked bootloader.
B: at startup (from a completely shutoff phone) the word "Samsung" flashes on the screen really quick.
There are some videos out there that show a normal, unrooted phone being started up and other videos of devices that are rooted with an unlocked bootloader being started up.
I'm late for work but I can search for them later for you so you can see the difference