Microsoft intended WFP for use by firewalls, antimalware software, and parental controls apps.
Additionally, WFP is used to implement NAT and to store IPSec policy configuration.
WFP relies on Windows Vista's Next Generation TCP/IP stack.
The filtering platform includes the following components: Starting with Windows 7, the netsh command can diagnose of the internal state of WFP.
Microsoft released three out-of-band hotfixes for WFP in Windows Vista and Windows 7 to address issues that could cause a memory leak, loss of connectivity during a Remote Desktop Connection session, or a blue screen of death.