>Is is it possible to write a program to run in the background as a service on an NT/2000 box?

This is the answer I got from Vlad Grynchyshyn in response to my question, hope it helps.

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You can run VFP application as a service using SRVAny tool from Windows NT Resource Kit. There is analogue tool for Windows 2000 - all are from MS. There are a few third-party tools that provide more options.

Also, just for simple tasks like doing something in period of time, the best approach is not a service, but usual application ran by Windows Task Scheduler at some period or moment of time. It is much better because require no service maintenance that is usually not a good thing. In addition, cheap service installing and running (like using SrvAny tool) does not provide an option for good shutdown - SrvAny just kills the application when machine shutdown or service stop without the notification to application.