As long as the operating system is running on a system without file encryption, access to the files will have to go through OS-controlled user authentication and access control lists. If an attacker gains physical access to the computer, however, this barrier can be easily circumvented. One way would be to remove the disk and put it in another computer with an OS installed that can read the filesystem, or simply reboot the computer from a boot CD containing an OS that is suitable to access the local filesystem.