Status icons in the system tray

Here's a problem I've found trying to migrate to ObjectDock.

ObjectDock does a very good job of actually hiding the Windows 7 taskbar. NOT autohiding, hiding. It stays out of the way when configured using ObjectDock. If I hover the mouse near that edge (bottom) the Windows 7 Taskbar does NOT appear. So the desktop is particularly clean, especially if ObjectDock is set to autohide.

It is 'challenging' (read: impossible) to create ObjectDock shortcuts that replicate the status reporting of some tray icons.

Case in point, the Norton Internet Security tray icon changes colors from green to yellow or red when a threat or problem is detected. Norton does not have a way to replicate that reporting on an icon that can be placed on a dock. They SAY Norton will popup a threat warning if it detects a threat. Personally, I prefer monitoring the icon.

I use GMail Notifier to monitor three GMail accounts. It notifies me in the tray when new, unread mail arrives. I have not been able to find a way to get that same information in an icon or anything I can put on a dock.

Network connection status is also reported in a tray icon. I haven't been able to find anything yet to report that status without opening the Network and Sharing Center. IE, I can't find anything that just SHOWS connection status like the tray icon.

I am not sure but think Windows Action Center only reports problems using the tray icon also. So problems there could go unnoticed since I had the taskbar and there's no way - other than opening the action center and checking - for detected problems to be identified.

To be clear, I know I can run Norton or open GMail or the action center for the information. I would PREFER to have the STATUS visible on ObjectDock that is in the tray, which I have now hidden with ObjectDock running.

Otherwise, ObjectDock works very well for me.