Old windows cd's

I have old R/W cd's with windows xp type backup files. I would like to access those files. Is there a way without installing bootcamp and runing window?

You will need to install windows, but you could get away with installing it under virtualisation, like VirtualBox rather than a full bootcamp windows install

If I understand gebrown's question correctly, there's no need to do anything special. I don't think he means Windows XP itself, just the personal files one created (documents, music, photos, etc) under his old Windows XP machine.

If I'm correct, then just inserting the disk should be sufficient. The Mac obviously can't read program files (.exe), but any jpgs, Office documents, or other standard-file-format files should be able to be copied over and used as normal.