As the New Year roars down upon us, you are doubtless asking yourself: "How can I change in 1999 to make the world a little bit better"?

Truth is, you can become a better person just sitting in front of your computer. Here are eight ways better computing habits can make this the best year yet:

8. Be a good techno-camper. Don't leave dead URLs lying around the Web to waste other users' time. Douse the smoldering embers of Usenet wars so they are not inadvertently fanned back into flame. Say "Please," and "Thank you," and "In my opinion." And the killer of killers: "Maybe you're right and I'm wrong."

7. Forgive novice e-mail users. When a newcomer makes a mistake, instead of hammering him, shrug it off as the ignorance of youth. Remember, there was a time when you, too, didn't know your head from a hole in the ground.

6. Forebear. When your repair person says you have to reformat your hard drive, do not collapse in a puddle of sobbing flesh. Take the long view. Your pain may be ensuring good crops this year.

5. Don't get high and mighty with your Internet Service Provider. So you can't get a good connection. But think of the fix they are in: three or four UNIX programmers who thought they could make a little money on the Internet fad. Now they are expected to compete with the likes of AT&T. Genetically unequipped to communicate with customers, and technologically unable to keep pace with their own rapid growth, they are on a motherboard bus to hell.

4. Be nice to God's creatures. Let the cat sleep on the laserprinter with its tail dipping into the sheet feeder. Let the dog gnaw on the power cable to your fax machines. Why holler till you're hoarse at creatures who don't understand English, or physics. Wait and see -- these bad habits soon self-correct.

3. Have pity on a technophobe. When they imply you are cheap and soulless for spending your time at console, remember they are dying inside because they missed out on the ride of their lifetimes. Scolding you for your fascination with "thingamabobs" and "watchamajiggers" is the only fun the new age provides them.

2. Be nice to tech support. Even if you have been waiting in the phone queue at a dime a minute for forty minutes, listening to Kenny G, be nice. These people are closer to going postal than you or I will ever know.

1. And most important -- write your mother. No, she has not acquired an e-mail address, or if she has, she can't make the thing work. Accommodate her. Put pen to paper, and lick a stamp. The extra effort of hand delivery is certified proof of your love.

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