firewall question

[vinifera]

I'm on Pro Sp1, and my firewall is DISABLED (Off) in control panel (Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Windows Firewall)

but I use Firewall Control from Sphinx software, and even if FW is disabled, each time an app requests access to internet, this program pops out and asks for enable/disable access

mind you I have no complaints there, but my question is, does win7 firewall invokes itself on the fly

or disableing it in control panel doesn't work at all ?