Screenshots and code for the most recent build of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser have leaked to the Internet, several Windows devotee sites reported Friday.

Internet Explorer 7, which is being co-developed for the upcoming Windows Vista and the current flagship Microsoft OS, Windows XP -- has been posted to at least one German Web site -- links are available from JCXP.net -- where it can be downloaded as an 11MB file in .rar format.

Other sites, including ActivWin.com, have posted numerous screenshots of the new browser that show such things as its thumbnail-style QuickTabs and the long-awaited tabbed browsing interface.

Microsoft has been slowly disclosing details of the new browser -- which is supposed to be more secure and offer some of the features the rival Firefox now has -- on an official blog, but it has posted few images of IE 7's interface.

IE 7 is currently in limited beta test; the Redmond, Wash.-based developer has said it would open the preview to the public sometime during the first quarter of 2006. That version will be dubbed "Beta 2," which is the title on the browser's bar in the leaked screenshots.

The appearance of the screenshots and the leak of the code could mean Beta 2 is imminent, several posters to Windows aficionado sites wrote Friday.

"We believe that with these images breaking out into the wild suggests that we may be in for a treat quite soon," wrote an anonymous poster on Addict3D.org.