but to test it, I tried the latest version with a fresh config file and Electrum started with "Batch unconfirmed transactions" turned off by default.
To check if they moved the setting to the wallet file which could cause Electrum to ignore the previous setting,
I've enabled the setting and checked the freshly created "config" file if it added a "batch_rbf": true, line, and it did.
So it's still saved in the config file, and with the test above, it's disabled by default.
So if there's a previous setting, it shouldn't change by itself. (unless it's a bug in 4.4.1 or 4.4.2)
To fully test: Reproduce the issue by installing v4.3.4, disable the setting, close, update Electrum and see if it's enabled.