Thank you. Yes, I feel your pain. I’m going to keep trying to find a solution.
OK, I’ve got it working… at least for now. I will see if it lasts. If it holds out, I will write the full minimal solution cleanly in a new reply. For now, this might help.
I’ve perhaps gone overkill on exclusions but I think the key exclusion(s) (probably in addition to the four .exe already mentioned above) is one or more of:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\python.exe
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\pythonw.exe
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\.venv\Scripts\python.exe
Try adding to both soft and hard exclusions. Remember to logout and close Astrill for it to take effect.
If that still does not work… try also excluding mpv.exe and QtWebEngineProcess.exe buried within subfolders of C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles.venv\Lib\site-packages\
Later, I will one-by-one remove the exclusions and see which ones are essential.
If anyone else is having a similar but not quite the same issue you could try the approach that finally gave the clue. I went to Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Applications and then after Anki crashing looked at the most recent error reports to find the path to the faulting application. Astrill’s C:\WINDOWS\system32\ASProxy64.dll is interfering it seems.
Solution that worked for me on Windows 11 fully updated.
Short version:
In Astrill:
Hard exclude (change username):
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Programs\Anki\uv.exe
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\python.exe
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles.venv\Scripts\python.exe
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\pythonw.exeSoft exclude (change username):
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\pythonw.exe
Long version from clean install:
Make sure everything is backed up or synced to AnkiWeb. Or make a copy of your Anki files. Then completely uninstall Anki. Download the latest version of the Anki installation file.
Reset Astrill. Logout, restart it, login. Change to StealthVPN mode. Toggle Smart Mode on from the main menu.
Hold down ‘Ctrl’ and click the main menu again and then ‘Help’ then click ‘Hard exclude apps’. Add the following paths (adjusting for your username). The paths might not exist yet but should when you install Anki.
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Programs\Anki\uv.exe
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\python.exe
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles.venv\Scripts\python.exe
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\pythonw.exeLogout, close Astrill, then open it again and login.
Run the anki installer e.g. anki-launcher-25.07.5-windows.exe. It will install and then start updating. At this point in Astrill got to Application Filter → select ‘Exclude these apps’ and add (adjusting for your username):
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\AnkiProgramFiles\python\cpython-3.13.5-windows-x86_64-none\pythonw.exe
The updating on Anki may have stopped. That’s ok. Just close the Anki updater and run ‘anki-launcher-25.07.5-windows.exe’ (for example) again. Press Enter to continue with the latest version. Let it finish updating. Then follow the instructions.
Anki should start and ask you to choose a language. Once it has fully opened, login to your account to sync. It should then start to download your cards from AnkiWeb. Wait for it to finish downloading then it should work as normal.
Please let me know if this works for you. Or if you find you don’t need all of the exclusions (when doing a clean install). I guess some of these paths will change with updates to Anki. For ‘hard exclusions’ the path can be excluded i.e. just the file name can be given. This might future proof it but personally I’d rather be more specific.
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You, sir, are a genius! I just went through your steps one by one, adding the exclusions to Astrill, and Anki is back working as normal, risen from the dead!
Thanks so much for posting this and having the perseverance to find a solution - very much appreciated, and a big help to me. 
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