Firewall rules enabled / disabled

[vmaxx]

I have the latest pfSense installed as my gateway. For rules I have split by machine, the 'pass' rules and then a block all. How does pfSense implement the rules. It seems that when a rule that was enabled and is then disabled -> saved -> apply changes does not take immediate effect. Likewise when the block all rule is disabled  -> saved -> apply changes - I still see events in the log that show it is blocked. Is there something else I need to do like a reload all or another step to have any changes implemented immediately? It seems that several hours can go by before a change is fully implemented. I know I can reboot the box, but that seems a bit much.

[KOM]

Existing states will not be dropped after you change a firewall rule.  You can either reboot, or reset the state table, or manually delete the states you're working with.

Diagnostics - States

[vmaxx]

Thanks - exactly what I needed to know :)