Computer sales are surging. I'm Fred Fishkin with Bootcamp, a report on computers and technology. Plummeting prices and new deals that make computers free or almost free if you sign up for Internet service are behind a more than 25 percent increase in PC sales according to the most recent figures from the market research firm IDC. And a lot of people buying for the first time are over fifty. Where to turn for advice? Mary Furlong, founder of a web site called ThirdAge.com, has written a new book called the Grown-Up's Guide to Computing...

"First of all, baby boomers are now 53. And the reason we coined the phrase ThirdAge or borrowed it from the European Universities of the Third Age is because we found that boomers were going to toss out "senior"... that's not who they were going to become. And we wanted to create a title in the Grown-Up's Guide that would really be a little more respectful than I think "Dummies". And we really feel that people, as they grow up, they have a lot of knowledge and experience. And we really wanted to draw on that in the book. It's in simple language, but the applications are a little more grown-up."

If you're still saying to yourself...what do I need a computer for.... Furlong says first on the list is email...

"It's those thoughtful letters you get from your children. The kind of support that you can give them. And they can even ask you to send money online too."

The Grown-Up's Guide to Computing is published by Microsoft Press.