Once your computer has been infected with spyware, your personal information is at risk, so it's best to know when your device may be exposed to malware. That way, if you're a resident of Virginia, Maryland or Washington D.C, you can seek out spyware removal services as soon as possible.

Security firm Symantec released an in-depth review of 2011 malware trends in April. The report noted that "drive-by attacks" – when a user accesses an infected site – were "responsible for hundreds of millions of attempted infections every year." Users can be lead to infected websites by links shared via email and social networks. They may also stumble upon a "legitimate" website that has been hacked.

The report breaks down the top 10 types of websites with the highest infection rates. At the top of the list were blogs and web communications websites, which had a 19.8 percent infection rate. Personal websites and hosting sites came in second with 15.6 percent. Rounding out the top five were business and economy, shopping and educational pages.

It may come as a surprise that websites featuring adult content came in at the bottom of the list with a mere 2.4 percent infection rate, following automotive and medical websites. Analysts noted that "ideological and religious sites" had about three times the amount of malware that adult websites had.

The report speculates that industries that make money directly from their online content were probably more vigilant about monitoring spyware because they didn't want to deter customers from visiting their pages repeatedly.

Though mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have become quite a prize for malware developers, laptops and desktops are at risk. For quick and efficient spyware removal in Maryland, Washington D.C. or Virginia, contact Geeks On-site for a consultation.