Run Windows Backup as a Service?

Hi there, after fighting for a long time trying to get some backups working with the clunky NTBackup windows utility (this article was a great help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314844)
I now find that unless the backup utility is kept running in the tool bar the scheduled backups fail to find the media.

Does anyone know is there a way to have NTBackup run as a service so that if the server is ever rebooted, the application does not have to be launched manually, or risk another admin closing NTBackup by mistake?