I want to create a program in VB.NET 2005 that can be started with a Shell command containing argument strings, and which will then go about its business on a server with no one logged in, committing suicide when it is done with its task (or has reported whatever error prevented completion).

  To wit: I want to upload a file with an ASP.NET app, save it to a location designated in web.config, then start this afore-mentioned app, telling the app in the arguments what the name of the file is, under what name in the database the results are to go, and who it is that is making this request.
  Since the process might take awhile, I want it to run autonomously, while the user gets the next web page sent back to them right away: "Thank you for the request; retrieve your results later..."
  I don't think this is a process that a Windows Service would be right for. I don't think the right type is a Console App either. But can a Windows Forms app be written that never puts up a visual interface? (I have done this before in VB6, just entering Sub Main(), and never presenting a form; will that work with VB.NET 05? Is there a better choice?)

Sure, you can create a windows app with no interface, just as you've described for VB6 below. But I believe a service is ideal for what you're trying to accomplish. I've written just such a service to check an upload folder for a file once a minute, and process it automatically. It never "commits suicide", though - it just goes idle except for once a minute when the timer checks the folder for a new file. As yours takes command line arguments, you'd have to figure out a way to pass variable parms to it (via another DB table updated when the file is uploaded, for instance), which would also allow it to process several files if they should all be uploaded at the same time.

Make sense or am I missing something?