According to XDA-Developers, Microsoft is finally addressing Teams’ notorious sluggishness with a new dedicated process called ms-teams_modulehost.exe that will handle calling features separately from the main application. This child process will appear in Task Manager under ms-teams.exe and requires no special setup from users. The worldwide rollout begins in early January 2026 and should reach all users by late January 2026. Microsoft hopes this optimization will significantly improve Teams’ startup time and overall performance. However, the company acknowledges potential delays if previous updates need fixing. The change specifically targets calling features to make meeting experiences faster and more responsive.
Is adding another process really the solution?
Here’s the thing: Microsoft‘s solution to Teams being bogged down by too many processes is… to add another process. It feels a bit like trying to put out a fire by throwing more wood on it, doesn’t it? But apparently this new ms-teams_modulehost.exe will handle the calling stack separately, which should prevent the main app from getting bogged down during startup.
The timing couldn’t be better. Users have been complaining about Teams’ performance for years – just check out the frustration on Reddit where IT professionals vent about how slow Teams launches. And Windows Latest recently documented how Teams consumes significant RAM even when idle. So Microsoft’s admission that performance needs fixing is long overdue.
What this actually means for your workflow
Basically, if this works as promised, you should notice Teams launching faster and feeling more responsive when you join calls. The calling features – which include everything from basic audio calls to full video meetings – will run in their own dedicated space. That means if calling features crash or slow down, they shouldn’t take the entire Teams application with them.
Now, the real question is whether this will actually make a noticeable difference. Microsoft’s official message in the Microsoft 365 Message Center promises “optimized resource usage and enhanced meeting experiences,” but we’ve heard similar promises before. The proof will be in the January 2026 rollout.
The bigger performance picture
Look, Teams has become the digital equivalent of that one coworker who takes forever to get ready for meetings. It’s bloated, it’s slow, and it eats system resources like there’s no tomorrow. This fix feels like a band-aid on a much larger architectural problem.
But it’s a step in the right direction. Microsoft seems to finally be acknowledging that performance matters, especially as hybrid work becomes permanent. If they can make Teams feel as snappy as Slack or Discord, it would be a game-changer for daily productivity. Here’s hoping this isn’t just another empty promise.
