firstpastthepost: They work by having a hidden client software installed on the devices that records screen shots and keystrokes and sends them to a server.
clarry: Can you provide any references?
There are several kinds of software that do this. Spectresoft would be one example. Running off a thumb drive wouldn't change anything. The software literally records all actions on the device.
clarry: So I looked it up on wikipedia and Spectresoft appears to be a company, not a piece of software. They have multiple different kinds of monitoring software. I checked the system requirements for each of them, and they they all seem to require Windows, Mac, or Android.
So how how exactly is that software supposed to run and monitor me when I boot off a thumbdrive that does not have said software and does not run one of the required operating systems?
How do they gain administrator access to my OS on my thumbdrive?
There's a good chance booting from external devices is disabled and the CMOS is password protected. Barring that, though, they can't (not that easily, at least).