I don't think it has anything to do with port forwarding. He's obviously not connected at all. Not even standard 8 connections if you are behind firewall.
Tell him to try
telnet electrum.bitcoins.sk 8333
or any other known online node and post the output.
There won't be output. He would need to send a valid version message before the remote host will send anything back.
OP, the user's firewall (probably a corporate firewall) is blocking outbound TCP connections. Request that he get this computer connected to the internet through a less draconian Internet connection. If he cannot, he could move his wallet file home and fire up Bitcoin there.