When I save a jpg the preview looks fine in PS, but when I preview or import it in another program it looks faded out. Is there some sort of setting for this in PS preferences or Color Preferences?
Convert your JPEG images to sRGB colour space. You may leave them in AdobeRGB (or whatever you’re using) only within fully colour-managed environments. Photoshop is colour-managed; the Web or "some other programs" usually are not (and thus require images to be in sRGB).