IIS app pool recycle + quartz scheduling

Yes!

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/09/15/auto-start-asp-net-applications-vs-2010-and-net-4-0-series.aspx details it quite nicely, basically you need to:

1. Edit C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config to include:

   <applicationPools> 
       <add name="MyAppWorkerProcess" managedRuntimeVersion="v4.0" startMode="AlwaysRunning" /> 
   </applicationPools>
   

2. Declare what should be run as the “warm-up” for your site

   <sites> 
       <site name="MySite" id="1"> 
           <application path="https://stackoverflow.com/" serviceAutoStartEnabled="true" serviceAutoStartProvider="PreWarmMyCache" />
       </site> 
   </sites>
   <serviceAutoStartProviders> 
       <add name="PreWarmMyCache" type="PreWarmCache, MyAssembly" /> 
   </serviceAutoStartProviders> 
   

3. Configure your application with whatever “warm-up” logic you would like:

   public class PreWarmCache : System.Web.Hosting.IProcessHostPreloadClient {
       public void Preload(string[] parameters) { 
           // Perform initialization and cache loading logic here... 
       } 
   } 
   

Note: If all you need is for the w3wp.exe process to be present I believe only step 1 is necessary. If you also need other items (like certain things to be loaded into memory) then step 2 and 3 would also be used.