I was actually messing around with the game to see if I could not fix the white-box issue that window 8 users have been suffering (Such as myself) and actually found out how to get rid of the taskbar.

1) To fix the taskbar issue, right click the shortcut on your desktop and go to Properties.
2) Go to "Shortcut"
3) There should be a line called "Run", next to it will have a drop-menu with the option "Normal Window" selected.
4) Click on the drop-menu and click on "Maximized".
5) Hit apply, press OK and launch the game.

Everything in the game runs fine, the music may stop when you start the game but merely going to options, music and clicking on any number will get it to play again normally without problems. With the exception of the white-box, have no idea what is causing it. The only thing that I can think of, is that it's supposed to represent the area / action selected but for some reason, engulfs the entire map / thing selected.

Thanks, it worked for me!

The game run fine under Windows 7, and then it started showing the taskbar. Probably some update of the OS.

EDIT:

Things that still are not fine:

1. When changing to another program (Alt+Tab), on the return to Chaos Overlords, the taskbar will show.

2. IIRC, before the ratio was kept and the rest of the screen was black (or maybe I am wrong?). It is easy to notice, if the squares of the city are squares or rectangles.

Great game, still have the original box and CD...