Virus??

[Mousikos]

I take for granted that when people talk about a "virus" they mean malware in general, when we're not in some situation where the distinction actually matters.

Even the internal tech support guys where I work just say "virus", and they're talking to other techies so it's not as if they wouldn't be understood. It just doesn't matter unless you're digging into exactly how this particular piece of malware works.

Some people make a big deal out of the difference between types of malware -- it's just another facet of this attitude on the internet of "I know one thing about everything so I'm smart."

Maybe it's just where I'm from but people seem to distinguish between rootkits, trojan horses, and viruses. Everything else is malware.