Apparently Asus is shipping software crackers and confidential documents on the recovery DVDs that come with its laptops.

The startling discovery was made by a PC Pro reader whose antivirus software was triggered by a key cracker for the WinRAR compression software, which was located on the recovery DVD for his Asus laptop.

He discovered a number of other suspicious files, including:

1. A directory called “Crack” that appears to contain serial numbers for other software packages
2. A directory containing a large number of confidential Microsoft documents for PC manufacturers, including associated keys and program files
3. Various internal Asus documents and source code for Asus software

The reader sent the disc to PC Pro, and they’ve verified the existence of such files.

The key cracker is found in the WinRAR application folder on the recovery disc and is credited to “Freddy Cruger”.

One of the confidential Asus documents includes a PowerPoint presentation that details “major problems” identified by the company, including application compatibility issues.

An Asus spokesman has apologised to the customers who found the files. “We will be investigating this at quite a high level,” he told PC Pro. “Once the investigation is complete, we will ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

He was unable comment on how the files got on the disc (big surprise). So now you know how to get a crack for your favourite apps and OS…