Microsoft is preparing to address one of the most persistent performance issues affecting Microsoft Teams on Windows, aiming to reduce crashes and slowdowns experienced by users. According to a recent update published in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, the company plans to introduce a new system process to improve how the application handles calling features.
The desktop version of Microsoft Teams for Windows will soon include an additional background process named ms-teams_modulehost.exe. This process will be responsible for managing call-related functions independently from the main application. By isolating these components, Microsoft expects to reduce system strain, lower crash rates during meetings, and shorten overall startup time.
This approach builds on the architecture of the current Teams client, which is based on WebView2, a framework that essentially allows web-based apps to run as desktop software. In theory, offloading complex features—such as audio and video modules—into a separate process should prevent the main application from becoming overloaded. Microsoft has taken a similar path with File Explorer in Windows 11, where certain elements are modularized to improve responsiveness.
Over the past few years, Microsoft Teams has received a significant number of new capabilities, including expanded collaboration tools, AI-powered meeting functions, and deeper integration with Microsoft 365. While these upgrades have improved usability, they have also increased the app’s resource consumption.
Many Windows users report frequent freezes, delays when launching Teams, and RAM usage exceeding 1 GB, even during basic chat or video calls. These complaints have grown more common as organizations rely on Teams for daily workflows.
The new process is Microsoft’s attempt to mitigate these issues without fully redesigning the application. However, some observers argue that a more effective long-term solution would be to rebuild Teams as a native Windows application, using frameworks such as UWP or WinUI, which are known for better performance and lower resource demands. A native version could run more efficiently and reduce memory usage without relying on additional background processes.
This situation echoes similar decisions made by other companies; Meta, for example, recently released a new WhatsApp desktop client based on WebView2 as well. The result has been increased resource usage and slower performance compared to a native application.
For now, Microsoft’s modular approach aims to deliver immediate improvements, though it remains to be seen how much impact the new process will have on everyday use of Microsoft Teams on Windows.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft Teams and Windows 11.
