BackgroundWorker vs background Thread

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Some of my thoughts…

  1. Use BackgroundWorker if you have a single task that runs in the background and needs to interact with the UI. The task of marshalling data and method calls to the UI thread are handled automatically through its event-based model. Avoid BackgroundWorker if…
    • your assembly does not have or does not interact directly with the UI,
    • you need the thread to be a foreground thread, or
    • you need to manipulate the thread priority.
  2. Use a ThreadPool thread when efficiency is desired. The ThreadPool helps avoid the overhead associated with creating, starting, and stopping threads. Avoid using the ThreadPool if…
    • the task runs for the lifetime of your application,
    • you need the thread to be a foreground thread,
    • you need to manipulate the thread priority, or
    • you need the thread to have a fixed identity (aborting, suspending, discovering).
  3. Use the Thread class for long-running tasks and when you require features offered by a formal threading model, e.g., choosing between foreground and background threads, tweaking the thread priority, fine-grained control over thread execution, etc.

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