How to Build and Operate Windows Services ── From Choosing Between Task Scheduler and Services to Turning a BackgroundService into a Windows Service (archived 2026-07-27)

Should a background process become a Windows service, or is Task Scheduler enough? This guide organizes the practical design work for putting a service into production: a decision table, building a service with the .NET Worker Service template (UseWindowsService), the service account choice, recovery options, event logging, and safe shutdown handling. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/windows-service-worker-service-guide/, as published on 2026-07-27. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-07-02.