Print module's default setting is annoying
Looking at http://drupalcontrib.org/api/drupal/contributions--print--print.module/function/print_form_alter/6, it seems to use a constant called PRINT_TYPE_SHOW_LINK_DEFAULT for the default value. That in turn is hardcoded to 1, see http://drupalcontrib.org/api/drupal/contributions--print--print.module/constant/PRINT_TYPE_SHOW_LINK_DEFAULT/6.

So you don't have a way to change that without hacking the module.

You could try to submit a feature request in the issue queue: http://drupal.org/project/issues/print