samba - Jan 2005 - Windows XP and Samba, slow access with many subdirectories...

I know this may not be a Samba specific issue, but I have a client running
Samba on the server side as a PDC with Windows XP clients.  They have a data
share on the server where there are currently about 7000 subdirectories in a
directory... when windows clients browse to the directory the performance is
very slow as I presume windows has to read in all of the directory entries
and attributes each time.

Is there any way that anyone is aware of (short of rearranging their
subdirectory structure), either through tweaks to the samba config or tweaks
to the workstations themselves that can improve this performance?  This is a
small office and they are running over gigabit ethernet so the network part
of the equation is as good as it's going to get.

Any hints or tips appreciated.

Cheers,
>>>>> Mike <<<<<