Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how can I get Hardware Growler to run without occupying the dock? I want the notifications, as it's useful to be able to watch devices and IP address changes etc.
No, it's not. Take the universal one shipping with .7.4, and then find the post on this forum about how to make that change yourself. It's a one line change in the info.plist, I just forget which line.