Microsoft Groups Replace Will Quickly Repair Its Greatest Home windows Downside

Microsoft is getting ready to deal with one of the crucial persistent efficiency points affecting Microsoft Groups on Home windows, aiming to scale back crashes and slowdowns skilled by customers. In keeping with a latest replace revealed within the Microsoft 365 Admin Heart, the corporate plans to introduce a brand new system course of to enhance how the applying handles calling options.

The desktop model of Microsoft Groups for Home windows will quickly include an additional background process named ms-teams_modulehost.exe. This course of shall be chargeable for managing call-related capabilities independently from the principle utility. By isolating these elements, Microsoft expects to scale back system pressure, decrease crash charges throughout conferences, and shorten general startup time.

This method builds on the structure of the present Groups shopper, which relies on WebView2, a framework that primarily permits web-based apps to run as desktop software program. In principle, offloading complicated options—equivalent to audio and video modules—right into a separate course of ought to stop the principle utility from changing into overloaded. Microsoft has taken the same path with File Explorer in Home windows 11, the place sure components are modularized to enhance responsiveness.

Over the previous few years, Microsoft Groups has acquired a major variety of new capabilities, together with expanded collaboration instruments, AI-powered assembly capabilities, and deeper integration with Microsoft 365. Whereas these upgrades have improved usability, they’ve additionally elevated the app’s useful resource consumption.

Many Home windows customers report frequent freezes, delays when launching Groups, and RAM utilization exceeding 1 GB, even throughout fundamental chat or video calls. These complaints have grown extra widespread as organizations depend on Groups for every day workflows.

The brand new course of is Microsoft’s try to mitigate these points with out totally redesigning the applying. Nonetheless, some observers argue {that a} more practical long-term answer could be to rebuild Groups as a native Home windows utility, utilizing frameworks equivalent to UWP or WinUI, that are recognized for higher efficiency and decrease useful resource calls for. A local model may run extra effectively and scale back reminiscence utilization with out counting on extra background processes.

This example echoes comparable choices made by different firms; Meta, for instance, lately launched a brand new WhatsApp desktop shopper primarily based on WebView2 as nicely. The consequence has been elevated useful resource utilization and slower efficiency in comparison with a local utility.

For now, Microsoft’s modular method goals to ship speedy enhancements, although it stays to be seen how a lot affect the brand new course of can have on on a regular basis use of Microsoft Groups on Home windows.

Filed in Computers. Learn extra about Microsoft Teams and Windows 11.