Why does everything need to be a service? Almost every company I have worked for has requested some kind of automated process. Anything from a nightly ftp upload to cleaning up some DB records. Sure enough someone always suggests a windows service.
Windows says a service is:
A program, routine, or process that performs a specific system function to support other programs, particularly at a low (close to the hardware) level. When services are provided over a network, they can be published in Active Directory, facilitating service-centric administration and usage. Some examples of services are the Security Accounts Manager service, File Replication service, and Routing and Remote Access service.
Console App and the Windows Scheduler
Windows has a built in scheduler that is perfect for TIMED jobs, that in combination with the a simple console app is perfect for these types of requests. Simple to build, simple to debug, simple to deploy and simple to maintain. What asset does it bring to the business to create a Service? Most of the time the person doing the recommending either doesn't really know what a service is for or they are just attempting to challenge themselves? Console apps are so much better in most cases. You can kick off a console app whenever you want, you can change it and work with it on the fly, rerun it whenever you want, and generally speaking you are going have a harder time accidental bringing down a server with a console app
99% of the time a console app is going to be less intense on the server then a service especially if that service is poorly written, like the person that suggests we build a service with a timer to kick off processes, probably should not be your first choice of someone to take advice from.
Windows Services
Windows Services can be very useful and necessary but like everything it needs to be used when the business needs actually justify it. If you need to monitor a directory, use a service. If something on the server needs to up and running at all times, use a service. Services do have some built in advantages over a console app such as failure recovery. Such as "do nothing", "restart the service", "run a different app" or "restart the computer". I personally love the restart the computer option.
Both Windows Services and console/windows scheduler have their place just be sure you have a think about what you really need and how much business value the service your itching to build really brings.
