Ahh the timer is a great idea, didn't think it would work, but since the timer works independently it performs nicely.
Did this setup:
dialog big {
title "Dialog"
size -1 -1 515 364
option pixels notheme
list 1, 34 14 457 322, vsbar extsel
}
[color:red] [/color]
alias addline {
if !$feof { did -a big 1 $$fread(big) }
else { fclose big | timeraddline off }
}
Then performed the following:
//fopen big big.txt | dialog -m big big | .timeraddline 0 0 addline
Added the 50000 lines, without freezing mIRC, excellent

Regarding whilefix.dll, I've never really used it, just 1 or 2 times, you could post on ms.org in the comments section of the dll, and the author might reply with some feedback.
Greets