What are the pros/cons of using SRVANY compared to creating a Windows service?

Question

Hello, What are the pros/cons of using SRVANY compared to creating a Windows service?

(I've noticed here that SRVANY is not advised to be used in a production environment, but would like to understand the reasons)

Thanks.

Answer 1

It's trivial to create a Windows Service in Visual Studio. I can't think of any reason not to do it.

Answer 2

Hi Liran.

Pros: SRVANY is free, has been around for a long while (i.e. is stable), and does not require any code changes to your application.

Cons: SRVANY is somewhat messy to install, is not supported by Microsoft, has not been kept up to date for the newer OS's, can give misleading feedback (may say that the service is running when the app has closed), etc.

Please see our web site for an extensive comparison of SRVANY and our commercial product AlwaysUp, which runs any executable as a Windows Service.

To sum up, I wouldn't crucify someone for using SRVANY in a production environment as long as it has been thoroughly tested, but it should definitely raise an eyebrow or two.

Good luck!