Nothing makes me crazier than knowing there is a great tool out there that would really help me with my work, but I can’t install it because I don’t have admin rights, and requesting software that isn’t in our Software Library requires the completion of a nasty form that I refuse to complete.
There really aren’t a ton of options if you’re in this position, but here are some ideas:
- Get the list of corporate approved software. Find a contact in IT who might know, and if they don’t know, ask them who might, and repeat as necessary.
- Find the portable version of the software and “install” that. But this won’t always work. I was able to do that with VS Code, but not with another tool – I got a message that “this type of executable is blocked.” 🤬
- Tell your AI what you want to accomplish and what your software limitations are. I’d say I’ve got about a 50% success rate, especially since I do have access to PowerShell, which is surprising, um, powerful.
- Fill out the damn form.