32. Difference between Web service and Windows service?

• A Windows service is an application that runs without a user being logged into the system, usually to process some data on the machine that needs no user intervention to work with.

• A Web service is a website that, when contacted, returns XML (typically) in one of several standard formats for the service consumer to process.

• A Windows Service runs as a local application, while a web service is typically accessed remotely using a stateless protocol. Communicating with a Windows Service uses local machine protocols, while a web service uses XML.

Points to consider:

• Windows service is not a web based whereas the web service is web-based
• Windows service will start as windows will start whereas the web service is located at remote location on the server.
• Windows service can be seen in the windows administrative tools>>Services
• Finally we can say that Windows services are used locally on the machine and the Web services are used on internet based web applications.