PowerShell remnant character from registry pull - powershell

Question

When pulling this install string from the registry, there is an invisible leading character.
I am unable to run the uninstall string or strip this character. Various iterations of split, replace, join, etc work against the string, but do nothing to change the errant behaviour. I have tried within PowerShell or the Windows console.
Write-Output $uninst shows the correct string:
MsiExec.exe /x {1F4D7BAB-E816-43DF-B4B1-5A41A2DA13E8} /qn
When executing that string in PowerShell, the msiexec help bubble pops up. When executing that string at the Windows CMD shell, a white square character is at the beginning of the line.
# pull ESET uninstall string
$esetVer = Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall |
Get-ItemProperty |
Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -match "ESET Endpoint Antivirus" } |
Select-Object -Property DisplayName, UninstallString
foreach ($ver in $esetVer) {
if ($ver.UninstallString) {
$uninst = $ver.UninstallString
$uninst = $uninst.Replace('/I{',' /x {').Replace('}','} /qn')
Invoke-Expression $uninst
Write-Output $uninst
}
}
Removing first char only removes the M.

Answer 1

In my question, I focus on some errant character before the msiexec.exe command line. That apparently was not the issue. The issue was the braces around the app ID ( {1F4D7BAB-E816-43DF-B4B1-5A41A2DA13E8} ). They required a backtick. So, simply including the backtick before the brace in my substitution line fixed the code.
Old: $uninst = $uninst.Replace('/I{',' /x {').Replace('}','} /qn')
New: $uninst = $uninst.Replace('/I{',' /x {').Replace('}','} /qn')
This modification worked on 2 Windows 7 Pro computers.