Microsoft Teams

ApplicationMicrosoft Corporation

Also called teams, ms teams, microsoft teams

Microsoft CorporationProductivity

Microsoft work chat and meetings. The current Windows client is ms-teams.exe. It is not Slack and not the Microsoft 365 suite page.

What you need to know

Teams is ms-teams.exe. Slack is slack.exe. Microsoft 365 is the suite that often installs Teams.

Microsoft Teams handles channels, chats, and meetings. The new Windows client uses ms-teams.exe. Classic installs may still show Teams.exe. Neither filename is the Microsoft 365 installer.

What is it?: Work chat and meetings
Current Windows process?: ms-teams.exe on current PCs
Same as Slack?: No. Different vendor and workspaces

Feex says

If the PC feels slow after a workday, I would quit Teams from the tray before I blame Word. A meeting is this process, not WINWORD sitting idle, and it is not Slack.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's work chat and meeting client. Current Windows installs use ms-teams.exe. Classic Teams used Teams.exe. It is not Slack, not Zoom, and not the Microsoft 365 suite article.

If you have never used it

If your job said "the meeting is in Teams", this is the Microsoft meeting app, not Slack and not the Microsoft 365 billing page. Download the current client from Microsoft's Teams download page, or take the copy Office Click-to-Run installed. You join with a work, school, or Microsoft account. Slack workspaces do not open here.

What is it used for?

Chat and channels

Work threads that stay in a Teams tenant. Slack channels are a different graph.

Meetings

Video, screen share, and calendar join. This is why CPU, RAM, and GPU rise.

Files and apps in a team

SharePoint-backed files inside a team. That is not OneDrive Known Folder Move by itself.

Who is it for?

Work and school tenants that standardized on Teams
People comparing RAM with Slack by product name
Anyone who still has classic Teams.exe beside ms-teams.exe

Current status

Actively developed. Microsoft retired classic Teams for most Windows users in favor of the new client. This article is the current desktop app.

How old is it?

Teams launched in 2017 as the successor path away from Skype for Business for many tenants. It is much newer than Word. Skype for Business is a different, retired-line client.

Versions

Major channels first. Exact build numbers are not all verified here.

New Teams (ms-teams.exe)

Classic Teams (Teams.exe)

Teams on the web

System requirements

Values follow the publisher's public guidance. Workload still changes the real need.

Minimum

Minimum system requirements
CPU	A dual-core processor Microsoft lists for the current Teams client
RAM	4 GB class machines run it. Meetings want more RAM
Operating system	A current supported Windows 10 or Windows 11 release, per Microsoft

Resource profile

CPU demand: High during video meetings
RAM demand: Can stay high after many chats
GPU demand: Video and background effects
Network demand: Active in meetings

Installed processes

These executables belong to this product when it is installed.

Installed processes
ms-teams.exe	Current Teams client
Teams.exe	Classic client on older or leftover installs

Startup components

Teams often starts with Windows from its own setting or work policy. That is not a single Microsoft 365 switch and not Slack.

File locations

Common Microsoft Teams locations
New Teams package	C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MSTeams_*\ms-teams.exe
Classic leftover	C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\

File formats

meeting recordings and files you share in Teams

Common problems

Classic and new Teams both installed

A migration can leave two clients. That is not two viruses. Uninstall classic if Microsoft already moved you.

High RAM after the meeting ended

Quit from the tray. Ending a helper mid-call drops people. That is not Word.

Getting unstuck

Confirm ms-teams.exe versus leftover Teams.exe

Open file location. The new client is the MSTeams package. Classic Teams lived under AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams.

Quit from the tray after work

A restart of Teams is a better first step than a Windows reinstall when chat feels stuck.

Install from Microsoft's Teams download page

A "Teams desktop" MSI from a search ad is the wrong file. Work PCs may also get it from the tenant.

Alternatives

Slack, Zoom, and Discord overlap for chat or meetings. Pick them for the org you already have. They do not host your Teams tenant.

Official help and downloads

Start with the vendor. Random exe sites are not a support channel.

Official contacts
Download	www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams/download-app Official current Windows client
Teams help	support.microsoft.com/teams Meetings, chat, and sign-in help
Learn: Teams	learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/ Admin and client documentation
Status	portal.office.com/servicestatus When Microsoft 365 services, including Teams, are down

Related hardware

A working camera, headset, and GPU driver matter for meetings. A famous CPU name does not fix a tenant policy that keeps Teams in the tray.

Technical details

The new Teams package version is in the WindowsApps folder name. This article does not pin a package build.

Sources and verification

Reviewed by Feex editorial. Last verified August 2026 Status: Feex Reviewed. How we research.

Microsoft Teams download · Official Windows client
Microsoft Support: Teams · Meetings, chat, and client help
Microsoft Learn: Teams · Admin and client documentation
Foxhole process map · First-party samples on Windows PCs. Not a lab benchmark.

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