Embodiments of the present invention are directed to application-service provision by application-service-provider centers to remote application-service consumers, including small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and other similarly-sized institutions and organizations, as well as to users of individual computers, such as home computers. Rather than executing applications at an application-service-provider center, the applications are instead distributed to remote client sites for execution by virtual machines controlled and managed by an application-service-provider center. Execution of the applications by virtual machines at remote client sites alleviates constraints and bottlenecks associated with communications between client computers and remotely executing applications, while providing management capabilities and security that allow the application-service center to manage application execution as if the remotely executing applications were executing within the application-service center.