timer

I can not get the statusbar1.text to blink every half a second I have the following in the code The property, enabled for the timer is set to false, the interval is 500 'Run the process as a separate thread... Private t As New Thread(AddressOf Me.PopulateExcel) Private Sub btnExcelStrategies_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnExcelStrategies.Click t.Start() 'populates excel in a separate thread, to prevent locking... End Sub private sub PopulateExcel() '''populates excel cells... this takes about 10 minutes to complete... End Sub Private Sub EnableTimer() Timer1.Enabled = True End Sub Private Sub DisableTimer() Timer1.Enabled = False StatusBar1.Text = "" End Sub Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick Application.DoEvents() If StatusBar1.Text = "" Then StatusBar1.Text = "Processing Data..." Else StatusBar1.Text = "" End If End Sub