Okay, Salafis are just the folks who believe they are returning to the pure form of Islam practiced by the sahaba and tabi'in. They aren't the same as terrorists. Not all Salafis are terrorists and not all terrorists are Salafis (Hezbollah, Houthis).
Any conservative Muslim will know that the teachings of the sahaba and tabi'in have been passed down by the scholars into the four legal schools and classical scholarship.
Orthodox Sunni Muslims believe that they are the true bearers of pristine Islam since the time period of the Salaf. Because there were time gaps between the noble period of the Salaf and centuries that followed, the authentic positions of the early Muslims were passed by scholars in those times and afterwards to later generations via meticulous, systematic, and methodological means of preservation. The knowledge was passed from qualified scholars to other qualified scholars through the centuries, who passed it to the masses. This uninterrupted chain of knowledge from the time of the Salaf until now has been authentically preserved by the orthodox Sunnis. Orthodox Sunnis, therefore, have roots in the Salaf, and are represented today by the four surviving authentic schools of Islamic jurisprudence: Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, and Hanbali schools (madhahib).
http://sunnah.org/wp/2008/07/18/wahhabism-roots-islamic-extremism/