ON several occasions I have mentioned how useful CompuServe is to travellers because of its world-wide support. I recently had a chance to put it to the test and the results were interesting.
CompuServe does indeed have telephone numbers all over the world and this makes it easy enough to find a local number to ring whenever you travel. If you carry your own PC with all of your own software, there is little problem.
I was recently in America without my notebook computer. However, the press room where I was working had plenty of desktop computers, modems and telephone lines.
My CompuServe access programs run fully automatically, that is, I never have to enter my ID number or password.
But on the press room computers I had to set the ID number, but, for obvious reasons, left the password blank.
I got on to CompuServe and all the familiar screens came up. Well, almost all. There is an item in the menu bar called 'Favourite Places to Go'. This is a list of places of interest within CompuServe. It can be edited, so you can add new places of interest or delete places no longer visited. This list is kept in a file on your computer.
This means that the file containing all of your 'favourite places' is only accessible if you use only your machine. If you have a notebook, you could duplicate the data on the notebook without any problem. If, however, you find yourself in the situation I was in - using an unfamiliar machine - you are back to square one; none of the things that make a personal computer 'personal' are there any more.