Running Excel remotely - VPN vs Virtual Machine

[nyconfidential]

Hi all - just wanted to some insight on running Excel over a VPN vs a virtual machine. We have a series of robust workbooks that use a lot of VBA several COM add-ins. Lately, we have been encountering a lot of workbook crashes for remote users(they happen at arbitrary times - can be while opening the workbook, clicking on buttons in the Excel ribbon, entering data in cells, etc). Right now, these users are currently using a VPN to access the files - I know Access is notorious for performing poorly over a VPN - does Excel ever encounter similar issues? Is it possible that using a Virtual Machine rather than a VPN may improve performance? That way factors like the user's internet speed and machine specs might not vary so much(Obviously I could be wrong about this, but I think this would make sense). Anyone have similar issues running large workbooks remotely? Thanks in advance.