VS 2012 - Getting help with making a label blink during listview load

I am using Visual Studio 2012 (yea, I know it's old) and I'm trying to make a label blink during the loading of some words into a listview. This is what I have tried so far:

Code:

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        Private Sub OPENToolStripMenuItem1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles OPENToolStripMenuItem1.Click       

        Dim loadinglist As Boolean = True
        Dim tmpInt1 As Integer = 0
        Dim tmpInt2 As Integer = 0
        Dim tmpString1 As String = Nothing
       
        ' Step 1: Set up the OpenFileDialog box:
        OpenFileDialog1.AddExtension = True
        OpenFileDialog1.CheckFileExists = True
        OpenFileDialog1.CheckPathExists = True
        OpenFileDialog1.DefaultExt = ".dat"
        OpenFileDialog1.FileName = Nothing
        OpenFileDialog1.Filter = "Dictionary Files (*.dat)|*.dat"
        OpenFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = My.Settings.DictPath
        OpenFileDialog1.Multiselect = False
        OpenFileDialog1.Title = "Select the DICTIONARY file you wish to edit:"
       
        ' Step 2: Get the DICTIONARY File name to open
        If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog = DialogResult.Cancel Then Exit Sub

        Timer1.Start()

        ' Step 3: Open the DICTIONARY file
        FileNum = FreeFile()
        FileOpen(FileNum, OpenFileDialog1.FileName, OpenMode.Random, OpenAccess.Read, OpenShare.LockRead)
        FileGet(FileNum, tmpInt2, 1) ' This is the number of words in the file
        FileGet(FileNum, tmpInt1, 2) ' This is the number of blocked words in the file

        ' Step 4: Loop to input all of the words & the wordblock indicators (checkboxes)
        For x As Integer = 3 To (tmpInt2 + 2)
            FileGet(FileNum, tmpString1, x)
            ListView1.Items.Add(Trim(Mid(tmpString1, 1, 15)))
            If Trim(Mid(tmpString1, 16, 1)) = "#" Then ListView1.Items.Item(x - 3).Checked = True
        Next

        ' Step 5: Close the file.
        FileClose(FileNum)
        Timer1.Stop()
        Label1.Hide()

        End Sub
       

        Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

              Label1.Visible = Not Label1.Visible

            End Sub

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The Timer1_Tick event is never fired. Why? The interval is set to 1000 (blink once a second?)
Can someone help me?

Try to get the timer working by clicking on the button. Do this by commenting out the file code. Get it working like this first. Then add the file code back in.

How many words are you loading and how long is it taking.

The code you have there looks like it will likely be pretty slow and could be a lot faster with a few tweaks.
One thing to consider is to suspend the redrawing of the list while adding items to it. This often improves performance by leaps and bounds also do not use the old variant trim and mid functions.