It may have to do with the Windows indexing service. I seem to remember that some update during the last couple of months turned it on by default, you'll want to turn it off again. The indexing process itself slows things down.

Another thing that may have happened over time is fragmentation of the master file table. The simple defrag utility that ships with Windows cannot defrag system files, you'd need something like Diskeeper for that job. I'd recommend downloading a trial version of Diskeeper (at www.diskeeper.com ) and use that to do a thorough defragmentation of your drive(s).
A fragmented master file table will slow down disk access by a significant amount.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter

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