Is using a taskbar icon in .exe combined with windows service a good idea as part of an alarm system?

Question

My client wants an alert system and his focus is on the taskbar.  He wants the icon to change, (and ideally even blink) and also to have some beeping when a new work request comes in.  It needs to run constantly, and grab the attention of an operator
who may not be paying much attention to the screen.
I’m excited to develop this, but after years of web development, I feel paralyzed.  I must be making this harder than it needs to be, but here’s my plan…  I'll start with a windows form, which will run minimized, and have an icon that looks like
a hammer in the taskbar.  A timer would continually check for a new service requests.  When it sees one it would change the toolbar icon to a red x and sent a few dozen beeps out to the operator.  I think I need a windows service running that
checks periodically to see if my windows exe is running.  If not, it should start it up.  Perhaps this could be a scheduled task, rather than a service.  
Some of my questions are;
How do I change the taskbar icon on the fly?
Is this a good idea, or is there an easier way?
Snippets of code or related articles are most welcome!
Thanks!

Answer 1

So I created a windows form and added a timer to check for unacknowledged requests.  If it finds any, it changes the icon on for the taskbar, and makes a beep.  Simple, but it works.  However, I'm having a beep of a time trying to figure out
where to put the ico files so they are where they need when I publish it.  Others seem to suggest adding them using the properties of the application, under application / resources / Icon and manigest blah blah blah.  But I can only seem to add one
there.  I need the three different ones.  I'm confused!  Any suggestions?
        private bool iconBig = true;
        private Icon redcross = new Icon("..\\NewRequest.ico");
        private Icon redcross2 = new Icon("..\\NewRequest2.ico");
        private Icon hammer = new Icon("..\\Hammer.ico");
 private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
            List<WorkRequest> myWorkRequests = WorkRequestData.WorkRequest_unAcknowledged();
            if (myWorkRequests.Count > 0)
                for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
                    SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
                    if (iconBig == true)
                        iconBig = false;
                        this.Icon = redcross;
                        this.Refresh();
                    else
                        iconBig = true;
                        this.Icon = redcross2;
                        this.Refresh();
            else
                this.Icon = hammer;
                this.Refresh();