So like, unless youre really digging into wireshark or something over a long time, you really dont know what connections are encrypted or unencrypted coming from your OS. Thats more what I'm referring to. Certain OSes like whonix have safeguards for this, and linux in general is much better about this. Its hypothetically possible a malicious actor could hijack an operation that isnt encrypted coming from your OS to bork you.

And yeah tor browser on its own without JS and high tracking prevention is the way to go if you dont want a big hassle dealing with your OS. I was more referring to TORing all of your computer traffic, which should only be done with specific OSes. Mullvad browser with vpn is fine for the vast majority of people and it doesnt reduce speed a lot like TOR does.