Which version of .net 4.0 should be used for Windows Service (4.0 full or client profile)

Question

With reference to this question, I would like to know which version (.net 4.0 client profile or full version) should be used for Windows service application and why?

Answer 1

The project templates for Windows Services target the client profile by default so the choice simply comes down to 2 aspects:

a) What framework features does your service need - is everything you need available in the client profile or are you going to be using features that are only in the full framework?

b) Does the size of you installation package matter? E.g. If you're package is downloaded and bandwidth is a cost for you then keeping your install package small is clearly a benefit. If this is an internally used service then the size of the install package is likely to be less of an issue.