Native Windows 11 apps use a lot of RAM, and that slows down Windows 11 computers. Microsoft has promised to tackle this problem.
According to Windows Latest, Microsoft intends to improve RAM management with a major Windows 11 update. To this end, Microsoft plans to optimize the WinUI 3 framework before the update is rolled out.
Back at the Build 2026 developer conference held in June, Microsoft had already announced changes to WinUI that aimed to reduce the amount of RAM used by the framework. These improvements to memory usage are vital before Microsoft is able to reprogram various Windows elements (such as the Start menu) using WinUI 3.
Chris Anderson, a developer on Microsoft’s Windows UI team, says that further improvements are planned, particularly in the areas of “performance, fundamentals, and quality.” This is intended to pave the way for larger projects and revamps.
Anderson also said: “On the performance side we’ve invested heavily in really improving memory usage as well as switching over to a system compositor, which should yield some even better performance improvements. And this stuff all actually hit the public in our Git repo.”
Microsoft is already internally testing changes to memory usage, performance, and reliability for WinUI, ahead of the planned release of the new Start menu based on this updated framework. With the introduction of the WinUI version, users will hardly notice any visible changes in the Start menu, but on low-spec PCs, Windows 11 should run a little more smoothly and use less RAM overall.
That said, Microsoft hasn’t provided any specific figures regarding the reduction in RAM usage. Most recently, Microsoft promised to retire older Windows UI elements dating back to the Windows 95 era and bring them to the modern era with WinUI 3.
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