Red-faced executives at Asus have had to explain why it shipped recovery DVDs with some of its notebooks with software cracking software and confidential Microsoft documents.

Punters who looked at the recovery DVD could find all these goodies in a folder conveniently labelled "Crack." The crack is for WinRAR compression software, and PC Pro reports that one of its readers' anti-virus software was triggered by the key cracker for WinRAR. Also on the DVD were confidential Microsoft documents intended for viewing by PC manufacturers.

This included program files and associated keys, and various bits of internal Asus documents and source code for Asus software. One amusing file is a Powerpoint presentation that outlines major problems Microsoft has identified, including problems with application compatibility. Personal files of Asus employees, have also turned up on some Asus DVD recovery disks.

Asus, said that it will investigate the matter.

More here.