This would be a Windows problem.

Before you can get a fix for this "problem", you first have to get Microsoft to
acknowledge that it is a problem, and not a feature.

GMBYF. This was the first hit I got when searching:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/speed-up-disk-access-by-disabling-last-ac
cess-updating-in-windows-xp/

Maybe you can apply the registry tweak in reverse, if you want to slow down the
system. Don't forget that all the directory indexing which Vista performs on
your behalf will require setting the file last access date, which will require
re-writing the filesystem header blocks for every file in the filesystem every
time it runs. I'd go make that coffee now.