The Windows operating system features built-in infrastructure services (Service Control Manager and Task Scheduler) that help manage background processes. Windows takes advantage of the built-in services to provide system management, device management, and system maintenance functionality.
Significant improvements have been made to this infrastructure for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Developers can use these improvements to develop Windows services that are efficient and that contribute to the overall system performance and security.
For example, a service can register to be started or stopped when a trigger event occurs. This eliminates the need for services to start when the system starts, or for services to poll or actively wait for an event; a service can start when it is needed, instead of starting automatically whether or not there is work to do.
Watch this demo to see an illustration of how to develop a service which starts on system triggered events.
Learn more at the MSDN Library. See the step-by-step guide with sample code.
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