The writers at ZDNET spend a Lot of time covering VPNs -- today there's a timely article covering the basics, like why, or why not use a VPN: "How to change your IP address with a VPN (and why you should)" zdnet.com/article/what-is-an-ip-address-and-how-can-you-change-it-with-a-vpn/
Sonics VPN is one of those giveaways that use GOTD's services to distribute the keys, so you need to visit giveawayoftheday.com/sonics-vpn/get-key/ while you still have the browser window open from downloading the software. Once you receive the email with the code, you visit sonicsvpn.com/register, set up an account, click Redeem on the left when you 1st log in, and copy/paste that code in the text box to enable the VPN for 6 months.
Sonics VPN is a bit of an unusual Windows app, apparently being written in the Flutter programming language [flutter[.]dev]. It would not display properly in any of my VirtualBox v.7 VMs, & while it appears to work in Windows Sandbox, you cannot sign in. I purposely don't have a lot of software installed in my VMs, and the Sandbox doesn't have any, so I got a string of error messages when I tried to start the app, saying that 3 files were missing: msvcp140.dll, vcruntime140.dll, & vcruntime140_1.dll. I didn't notice any difference whether I copied them from another copy of Windows to the program's folder, or installed the runtime package from Microsoft: learn.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170
The Sonics VPN app is mostly self-contained in the program's folder, though once everything's set up folders are added to Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Roaming & Local, storing configuration data, including your password in plain text. Those configuration files suggest that their servers are provided by Cloudflare. There's not much added to the registry other than an uninstall key & an entry to autostart the Sonics VPN app with Windows. One new entry, associating the file type .exe with the app, raised an eyebrow, but using Process Explorer it doesn't appear to do anything. The app itself is semi-portable -- you can copy the program's folder to another copy of Windows and run it there, though those 2 user folders will be created once you sign in, and the autostart entry is added to the registry.
The 1st time you run the Sonics VPN app you sign in, but after that the app will mostly live as an icon in the notification area of the TaskBar. When opened, in the center of the small window is an On/Off switch, along with your new location & its IP address -- you select different locations below that. Their web site says split tunneling will be added in the future.
Without much info available on their web site, and almost zero reviews, I'd go with one of the more well known brands if I had to depend on a VPN, but for something relatively painless to try out now & then, I don't see any problem with Sonics' GOTD.