New research carried out for Computing Made Easy for the Over 50s, a new book available from Which?, found that nearly six in ten over 50-year-olds have access to a computer.

A spokeswoman for Which? explained that while the popularity of modern technology is growing among older generations, the majority of over-50s are also more adept and, as a result, confident with new technology, in effect finding themselves much less scared when clicking and typing.

Despite this, many of them still struggle to know what to do should they get stuck in a situation which requires any deeper thought, with 70 per cent of respondents emphasising their confusion when something crashes or regarding which websites to trust.

The representative added: "You can go on computer courses and learn to word process but you're not told about all the error messages that can pop up that can throw a spanner into the works."

Which? prides itself on being a truly independent consumer body, campaigning over consumer protection issues and reviewing items to promote the power of customer choice.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support. London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.