AVG's CEO J.R. Smith says the results indicate parents should pay attention to their children's use of computers and the Internet from harm. “As our research shows, parents need to start educating kids about navigating the online world safely at an earlier age than they might otherwise have thought,” he says.

Tech skill rates varied with the complexity of the task. For instance, 63% could turn a computer on and off, but only 16% could navigate between Web sites.

37% of the children could write their own names while 15% knew at least one Web address and 5% knew at least one e-mail address.

The survey queried mothers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and found that results varied by country.

For example, 30% of the kids in the U.S. and Australia could operate at least one smartphone or tablet application. That percentage for kids in Japan was 11%. In France and the U.K., 70% of the children could play a computer game, while only 40% could in Germany.