it's not the old ccs, it's the ones that went into collections that is making your report look bad.

also cc companies will cancel your card if you don't use them, typically after 2 years. when then economy was good they didn't stick to this rule, but I recently had 3 old cards all of which i've not used in the past 2 years cancelled. they just sent a notice saying they cancelled it since i haven't used it in the last 24months. it doesn't hurt my credit because I have a very long credit history with my bank (nearly 20years).

for the items that are making your report look bad, write to the credit report companies and ask them to remove it (if they have already been settled)