As in Vista, you can speed this up by a TON.
There's two things you need to disable, Superfetch and Remote Differential Compression.
Superfetch can be disabled by;
Going to start > right clicking Computer > Click Manage > Choose Services and Applications > Services
Find "Superfetch" in the list, and right click > Properties > Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled"
Then Hit "Stop" then "Apply"
Remote Differential Compression can be disabled by:
Going to Start: Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Programs and Features > "Turn Windows Features on or Off"
Uncheck Remote Differential Compression and Click OK.
Best to restart the computer after these changes.