Welcome to the wonderful swinging pendulum. The IT world is taking back the control they lost with the demise of the mainframe.

Even though I'm a local administrator and have to do all the desktop installs/setups, I don't have the domain administrator password. We have a set desktop, at 800x600, with specific icons, that cannot be changed, and all desktops must be identical. No adding personal software, only what is on the IT groups approved list, no personalizing the desktop.

And if they find you don't have a standard desktop, when you ask for help, they will refuse help until your computer is re-imaged with the standard desktop. Meaning, I get a call to go down and wipe their drive and reinstall.

So I know what you're going through and I can feel your pain. But don't be too hard on your local IT guy, he may be just as frustrated with the situation as you are.