mapping arrows keys

When remotely editing through Vim on a friend’s server, I had troubles using the arrow keys, because instead of moving the cursor, using them result in some random letters printed on the screen. After some researches I stumbled on this help (:help compatible_):
<br /> This option has the effect of making Vim either more Vi-compatible, or<br /> make Vim behave in a more useful way. When a ".vimrc" file is found while Vim is starting up, this option is switched off, and all options that have not been modified will be set to the Vim defaults.<br />