What is a Windows NT/2000 service?
On Windows NT/2000, a service is a special kind of executable program that runs in the background. Services are used for programs that are constantly working, such as network protocols or database servers. Most WWW servers on Windows NT/2000 are implemented as services. A service is different from other programs in several ways: • Services aren’t run interactively, although the NET START and NET STOP commands can be used to start or stop a server. The Services control panel is used to start, stop, or pause a service. • Services don’t act with the authority of the logged-in user. That means that services can’t see user environment variables or read files that are readable only by the logged-in user. You can set the account that a service uses in the Services control panel. • Services run even when no one is logged in to the machine. The most important thing to remember is that you have to take special steps to make resources available to services. In general, you need to make files avai
