Installing Avant was even easier in Hardy Heron. All I had to do was search for 'avant' in 'Add/Remove programs' (or Synaptic), then install the package returned.
Drag launchers from the top menu to the dock. Right click on very top right of the dock (this can be tricky) for preferences. Choose auto-hide under General. On the same tab, choose 3D spotlight turn in the icon effects drop down. On the Bar Appearance tab, choose 3D look.
To auto-start on logon, go to System-> Preferences-> Sessions-> Startup Programs, and add 'avant-window-navigator' as a command.
To add a place or location (home folder or a drive for example) to the dock, create a new launcher on the dock using the command "nautilus" (without the quotes). If you want to add a different location other than your home folder, use the command: nautilus /path/to/your/location . Close AWN and restart it, to see your location launcher.
[Note - to curve the dock, don't set gconf-editor->apps->avant-window-navigator->bar->bar_angle to -1 (from the default 45). It doesn't work in AWN manager either.]
