First of all you can use System.Threading.Timer instead of this timer as according to my experience that is a better performing timer (just an advise on personal experience).

Secondly in such cases you should give a flag which is set once the earlier timer has completed the task (this flag - a static field which is accessed by all threads).

In this case please ensure that in case of any error, then also the flag is reset by you so that the other timer does not wait infinitely in case timer task is not able to set the flag for other timers due to the error occurred inside the task (sort of final block should be added to ensure error is handled and flag is always reset).

Once this flag is reset then the next thread works on it so this check would ensure that all threads start task on the same one by one.

Sample Code which I wrote for situation like this (methods code has been removed, this will give the design details to you).

namespace SMSPicker
{
 public partial class SMSPicker : ServiceBase{
    SendSMS smsClass;
    AutoResetEvent autoEvent;
    TimerCallback timerCallBack;
    Timer timerThread;
    public SMSPicker()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
    {
        // TODO: Add code here to start your service.
        smsClass = new SendSMS();
        autoEvent = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        long timePeriod = string.IsNullOrEmpty(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["timerDuration"]) ? 10000 : Convert.ToInt64(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["timerDuration"]);
        timerCallBack = new TimerCallback(sendSMS);
        timerThread = new Timer(timerCallBack, autoEvent, 0, timePeriod);
    }


    private void sendSMS(object stateInfo)
    {
        AutoResetEvent autoResetEvent = (AutoResetEvent)stateInfo;
        smsClass.startSendingMessage();
        autoResetEvent.Set();
     }

    protected override void OnStop()
    {
        // TODO: Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
        smsClass.stopSendingMessage();
        timerThread.Dispose();            

    }
}
}







namespace SMSPicker
{
class SendSMS
{
    //This variable has been done in order to ensure that other thread does not work till this thread ends
    bool taskDone = true;
    public SendSMS()
    {

    }

    //this method will start sending the messages by hitting the database
    public void startSendingMessage()
    {

        if (!taskDone)
        {
            writeToLog("A Thread was already working on the same Priority.");
            return;
        }

        try
        {
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            writeToLog(ex.Message);
        }
        finally
        {
            taskDone = stopSendingMessage();

            //this will ensure that till the database update is not fine till then, it will not leave trying to update the DB
            while (!taskDone)//infinite looop will fire to ensure that the database is updated in every case
            {
                taskDone = stopSendingMessage();
            }
        }

    }


public bool stopSendingMessage()
    {
        bool smsFlagUpdated = true;
        try
        {

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            writeToLog(ex.Message);
        }
        return smsFlagUpdated;
    }

}
}

Another way of doing this would be to wait on an event rather then using a timer.

public class PollingService
{
    private Thread _workerThread;
    private AutoResetEvent _finished;
    private const int _timeout = 60*1000;
}

public void StartPolling()
{
    _workerThread = new Thread(Poll);
    _finished = new AutoResetEvent(false);
    _workerThread.Start();
}

private void Poll()
{
    while (!_finished.WaitOne(_timeout))
    {
        //do the task
    }
}

public void StopPolling()
{
    _finished.Set();
    _workerThread.Join();
}

In your Service

public partial class Service1 : ServiceBase
{
    private readonly PollingService _pollingService = new PollingService();
    
    public Service1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
    {
        _pollingService.StartPolling();
    }

    protected override void OnStop()
    {
        _pollingService.StopPolling();
    }
}

I had a similar issue: the simpler thing to do could be to use System.Threading.Timer with period=0;

On this scenario, the call back method is invoked once. Then, resetting the timer (calling its Change() method) turns it on again; at the end of your re-occurring method.

This scenario is explained here: http://kristofverbiest.blogspot.com/2008/08/timers-executing-task-at-regular.html

You could use a timer or a dedicated thread/task that sleeps or whatever. Personally, I find the dedicated thread/task easier to work with than a timer for these kinds of things because it is easier to control the polling interval. Also, you should definitely use the cooperative cancellation mechanism provided with the TPL. It does not necessary throw exceptions. It only does so if you call ThrowIfCancellationRequested. You can use IsCancellationRequested instead to just check the cancellation token s state.

Here is a very generic template you might use to get started.

public class YourService : ServiceBase
{
  private CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
  private Task mainTask = null;

  protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
  {
    mainTask = new Task(Poll, cts.Token, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning);
    mainTask.Start();
  }

  protected override void OnStop()
  {
    cts.Cancel();
    mainTask.Wait();
  }

  private void Poll()
  {
    CancellationToken cancellation = cts.Token;
    TimeSpan interval = TimeSpan.Zero;
    while (!cancellation.WaitHandle.WaitOne(interval))
    {
      try 
      {
        // Put your code to poll here.
        // Occasionally check the cancellation state.
        if (cancellation.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
          break;
        }
        interval = WaitAfterSuccessInterval;
      }
      catch (Exception caught)
      {
        // Log the exception.
        interval = WaitAfterErrorInterval;
      }
    }
  }
}