How to restore 10.6 default display profile...?

If you still have the original profile installed then just go into System Preference and click the Display icon. After that click on the Color tab and it will list all the color profiles that are in your computer...or at least the ones that are in your ColorSync folders.

The original Apple profile should be called something like "Color LCD". You can also click on each one on the list to see which one you like better but the best option is to calibrate your monitor by clicking on the Calibrate button (Apple's calibrator isn't the best but it's free and good enough for average users). Follow the on screen instructions and make sure to choose Gamma 2.2 if it asks because 1.8 is too light and washed out which might be what you have now. Gamma 2.2 is standard for Windows and I believe TV sets and I think it looks better IMO. Save the new profile as something you will remember. If you end up not liking it then choose one from the list that you like or do the calibration again with a different setting.

FYI copying the .icc file over from another computer isn't going to do anything unless you select it from the list in your System Preference to make it active. Also using someone else's profile doesn't necessarily mean that it will look good on your computer. For best and most accurate colors a monitor needs to be calibrated every time the light changes, but unless you are a professional you don't need to be that picky unless you want to. Just calibrate it in the lighting that you are in the most.

 

The default profile should have been the Color LCD one unless you saved over it. You can try lowering the brightness of your screen but your problem could be hardware related. If you laptop screen is not an LED screen then the older LCD screens will become dimmer over the years. It's just a limitation of the technology.

Another thing you can try is going back to System Preferences and in the Appearance icon try playing around with the font smoothing settings. Font smoothing can effect sharpness.

It sounds like your problem is just with sharpness and washed out colors. This won't necessarily be a profile issue since you already set your Gamma to 2.2. It sounds like your screen is set too bright and the sharpness problem is not a profile issue. Was this always a problem for you in Snow Leopard or did you change something in Snow Leopard to create this problem? I believe Snow Leopard has different settings so if you just installed SL then that might be why things are different. This just means you have to use different settings in SL like turning down the brightness and adjusting things like your fonts smoothness.