Multiple Active Firewall Profiles

Many computers, especially portable computers, have multiple network adapters. For example, a laptop computer might have a wired Ethernet connection and a wireless WiFi connection. This can lead to computers being connected to private and public networks simultaneously—for example, a portable computer might be docked at the user’s desk and connected to the private LAN, while the WiFi network adapter maintains a connection to the public WiFi network at the coffee shop next door. Even with only a single network adapter, a user might connect to a corporate VPN across a public wireless network.

In Windows Vista and earlier versions of Windows, a single firewall profile was applied to all network adapters. In the previous example, this would lead to the portable computer applying a public firewall profile to the private LAN or VPN connection, which might block important management traffic. Windows 7 supports multiple active firewall profiles, which allows it to apply a public firewall profile to the WiFi network while applying a private or domain firewall profile to the VPN connection.

Source of Information : Windows 7 Resource Kit 2009 Microsoft Press