Hello Michael,
Thank you for your questions.
when I launch the viewer my internet id computer is immediately displayed as online. but my local pc's are listed as offline until I click connection/refresh status. why is this? I would expect local pc status to be displayed quicker since they are local and on the same network. this is very annoying. why do I need to click connection refresh status in order to see my local pcs that are online?
This is by design. This limitation is necessary to prevent a situation when hundreds of even thousands of PCs overload the network with requests.
due to this annoying status behavior I have another question if I use internet id for my local computers and connect to them will my connection go direct to the PC (ip) or will it go through your internet ID server?
If the program can automatically determine direct route, the connection will be direct even if it's Internet-ID in the connection properties.
Hope that helps.