Tallow

Tallow is a lightweight utility that complements Tor browsers to enhance your privacy while navigating online. Similar to Tor, the tool can redirect outbound traffic to an anonymous network, but it packs some extra features as you are about to find out.

The application comes with a minimalistic interface that shows you what is going on in the background while Tor is anonymizing your connection. The operation takes up to a minute and you can start browsing securely once the status changes to Tor is On and click the Tor button. The utility includes two configurations before you establish the connection, namely force web-only and force SOCKS4a.

According to the developer, the tool employs WinDivert to intercept all ingoing and outgoing traffic and it can handle TCP and DNS. The latter is managed directly by the app, which generates a fake domain and IP to use for the query responses. Because the tool employs SOCKS4a, it means the query does not need a real IP and the requests are processed considerably faster. TCP connections are handled in a similar manner.

As far as the other non-Tor traffic is concerned, the developer states they are blocked along with the domains listed in the hosts.deny file. You no longer need to worry about Windows updates and similar services working in the background and using the bandwidth. As you probably hinted, the hosts.deny file can be easily customized and edited according to your needs and preferences.

It is important to note that the app does not attempt to anonymize content going through the Tor network and hence, the app should not be used for strong anonymity in its default state. Nevertheless, advanced users who know how to configure Tor may achieve stronger anonymity.

In the eventuality that you are using Tor to ensure your anonymity and online privacy, then including Tallow in the picture may strengthen your security.