Hi. I am an IT support person. I use LogMeIn Central. It allows me to view hundreds of computer connections. It tells me when a computer is added or taken off of my central account. This tells me if someone points the local machine's LogMeIn client to another machine.
This tool is very helpful to support and connect to multiple machines. If I need to transfer files, monitor other statistics, etc (say on a server) I put the Pro client on it. It is faster than the free client.
If I, or a doctor in the practice, need to connect in faster I always set them up with a Remote Desktop connection to the PC and / or the server. It is much faster in general use. When I am home I always connect to the servers using RDP due to the improved speed.
We only use VPNs to print to remote printers. It is also useful if you have dual ISPs to a site and a switch that can automatically switch to the working ISP when the other goes down.
I have not read anywhere that any "data mining" is done or is used against a client. I am not saying it isn't done, I just haven't heard of it.
