running in the background...
 

Where/what could I look for to figure out how to make a program run in the background once it's an exe?

Operating system?

We don't help with making virii.

Especially not people who don't know what they are talking about.

It would be for Windows.

I take it as an insult that you assume that I'm making a virus. I'm assigned to search and figure out for myself (AKA not your code, not your hardwork) something attribute specific in regards to a program. I choose the ability to hide itself, obviously.

And yes, I don't know what I'm talking about hence me asking a question. I have no lead as to what it would take or the topic names that encompass my question. I want to read and figure it out myself. Is it honestly that hard to simply say "look up _________" or "maybe read more about _____?"

Thanks for your help, it's highly appreciated.

Then you're being unrealistic. Most people that want to hide things have nefarious reasons. People that want to do arcane things without even enough knowledge to research or apply are usually trying to find a short track to script-kiddy-hood. Them's jes' the facks, ma'am. I'll give you one word: services. Come back when you have code.

It's actually an assignment for school. "Pick a topic that is attribute specific to a program, it can be anything, be creative"... write a paper and what not. I don't want code, I just want to know how it works. I don't have malicious intent, I don't have the knowledge to be malicious. That's why I asked more or less for the direction in which I need to go.

Hmm, well okay... It depends on how you want to do it. You can register as a service, or you can hide your window. Come to think of it, don't even make a window.

In other words, create a Win32 application, using this for your main function:

instead of the regular main() function.

Excellent. Thanks for that then.

Services it is.